Right to keep and bear arms

The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms or to have arms) is the people's right to possess arms for their own defense, as described in the philosophical and political writings of Aristotle, Cicero, John Locke, Machiavelli, the English Whigs and others.

Background

The Bill of Rights Act of 1689 allowed Protestant citizens of England to "have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law," and restricted the ability of the English Crown to have a standing army or to interfere with Protestants' right to bear arms "when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law." It also established that regulating the right to bear arms was one of the powers of Parliament, not of the monarchy.

Sir William Blackstone wrote in the 18th century that the right to have arms was auxiliary to the "natural right of resistance and self-preservation," but subject to suitability and allowance by law.

The term arms is derived from the Latin arma (neuter pl.), meaning weapons and/or armor, and armare, which means to equip. Originally used in the 1600s, the term refers to the process of equipping for war. It is commonly used as a synonym for weapon. Use of these terms with regard to the right to keep and bear arms is predicated on the concepts of the right of self-defense, defense of property, and defense of state.

Bear arms (disambiguation)

Bear arms usually refers to:

See also