With all the back, and forth on what the Founders meant by the 2nd amendment here is how they felt about an armed citizenry. "under the 1792 Militia Act, enrollment was mandatory for all able-bodied free white men between the ages of 18 and 45—had six months to buy themselves “a musket, bayonet, and belt, two spare flints, a cartridge box with 24 bullets, and a knapsack.”
In other words those citizens had to buy at their own cost a firearm (private property) in order to join a state militia. Even better, numerous backwoods men even had an edge on those basics in that they owned Kentucky rifles that were accurate, and of 2-3 times the range of a military smooth bore musket.
With all the back, and forth on what the Founders meant by the 2nd amendment here is how they felt about an armed citizenry. "under the 1792 Militia Act, enrollment was mandatory for all able-bodied free white men between the ages of 18 and 45—had six months to buy themselves “a musket, bayonet, and belt, two spare flints, a cartridge box with 24 bullets, and a knapsack.”
In other words those citizens had to buy at their own cost a firearm (private property) in order to join a state militia. Even better, numerous backwoods men even had an edge on those basics in that they owned Kentucky rifles that were accurate, and of 2-3 times the range of a military smooth bore musket.