#moral-check

""To understand what the framers' intended the Second Amendment to accomplish, it is necessary to examine their world and their view of the right to bear arms as one of the traditional 'rights of Englishmen.' The English settlers who populated North America in the seventeenth century were heirs to a tradition over five centuries old governing both the right and the duty to be armed. At English law the idea of an armed citizenry responsible for the security of the community had long coexisted, perhaps somewhat uneasily, with regulation of the ownership of arms, particularly along class lines. The Assize of Arms of 1181 required the arming of all free men.""

Quote by English Legal Heritage on framers' intent

""THE MILITIA IS THE NATURAL DEFENCE OF A FREE COUNTRY AGAINST SUDDEN FOREIGN INVASIONS, DOMESTIC INSURRECTIONS AND DOMESTIC USURPATIONS OF POWER BY RULERS. IT IS AGAINST SOUND POLICY FOR A FREE PEOPLE TO KEEP UP LARGE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS AND STANDING ARMIES IN TIME OF PEACE BOTH FROM THE ENORMOUS EXPENSES WITH WHICH THEY ARE ATTENDED AND THE FACILE MEANS WHICH THEY AFFORD TO AMBITIOUS AND UNPRINCIPLED RULERS TO SUBVERT THE GOVERNMENT OR TRAMPLE UPON THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. THE RIGHT OF THE CITIZENS TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS HAS JUSTLY BEEN CONSIDERED AS THE PALLADIUM OF THE LIBERTIES OF A REPUBLIC SINCE IT OFFERS A STRONG MORAL CHECK AGAINST THE USURPATION AND ARBITRARY POWER OF RULERS AND WILL GENERALLY EVEN IF THESE ARE SUCCESSFUL THE FIRST INSTANCE ENABLE THE PEOPLE TO RESIST AND TRIUMPH OVER THEM.""

Quote by Justice Joseph Story on palladium of liberty