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What the Second Amendment meant to the Founders and Why?
The Second Amendment of the American Constitution provides the framework for gun laws in the country. Despite its clarity, the public has had numerous debates on its interpretation and the gun-control laws that stem from it. The author of the article “What the Second Amendment meant to the Founders,” from the Washington post offers his own version of interpretation. From the article, two things stand out. The first is that the founders were interested in making the citizens part-time soldiers as a way of ensuring true freedom and natural defense for the country (Shusterman 1). The Second Amendment states that “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (O’Shea 112). The founders were concerned about the threat of having a professional standing army. This is because the army could have been a threat to citizens who had no way of defending themselves. A free state’s security could, therefore, only be ensured by having a well-regulated militia. The right to gun ownership was, therefore, not an issue that the founders concerned themselves with but rather the ability of free citizens to be able to rise up and defend their society against any threat that can arise (Shusterman 1).
The other issue that stands out from the article is racism. The founders were highly concerned about who was allowed to be armed.

The laws then were against blacks owning guns (Jeffries 1). The author points out that slave quarters were inspected weapons found confiscated. He further claims that there were laws against the sale of firearms to the Natives. Whites were armed while the non-whites were disarmed. This was to ensure that the whites dominated and controlled the non-whites. A limited amount of violence was also tolerated by the founders so long as the perpetrators were fellow whites. An example of this was the murder of 20 Conestoga Indians by Paxton boys who were never prosecuted. The president was willing to pardon the rebels arrested during the Whiskey Rebellion, but no such courtesy would have been extended to the native Indians who attacked whites (Shusterman 1).
Works Cited
Jeffries, Zenobia. “The Racist Origin of the Second Amendment and the Rise of Black Gun Ownership.” YES! Magazine, 14 Mar. 2018, www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/the-racist-origin-of-the-second-amendment-and-the-rise-of-black-gun-ownership-20180313.
O’Shea, Michael P. “Modeling the Second Amendment Right to Carry Arms (I): Judicial Tradition and the Scope of Bearing Arms for Self-Defense.” Am. UL Rev. 61 (2011): 585.
Shusterman, Noah. “Perspective | What the Second Amendment Really Meant to the Founders.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/02/22/what-the-second-amendment-really-meant-to-the-founders/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7002800fdee3