The Bourgeois Right to Bear Arms

[William S. Lear]

On Wednesday, April 21, 1999 at 06:59:09 (+0100) Chris Burford writes:
>The right of all citizens to bear arms, "enshrined" in the American
>Constitution is one of its most characteristic revolutionary bourgeois
>features. 

It's hard to see how a document prepared by slave-owners, merchants,
bankers, lawyers and the like could be "revolutionary bourgeois".


>For 500 years prior to 1776 this was one of the touchstones of freedom
>against feudalism and hierocracy, particularly in those towns that could
>have early features of bourgeois democratic freedom.
>
>In the revolutionary American War of Independence it was crucial to the
>overthrow of British colonialism.

This sounds like pure romantic fantasy.  Care to back it up?

The 2nd Amendment was meant to provide arms for members of a
"well-regulated militia", which was "necessary to the security of a
free state", not for "all citizens".  It's curious that the term
"well-regulated" is taken to mean "indiscriminate".

Bill