Well, sure, anything is debatable if you take the Humpty Dumpty stance. But if English words mean things the language in the Constitution will hamper gun control efforts in the USA.<p>These articles are examples of what I call &quot;sneaking repeal under the wire&quot;. Just because an article comes from a scholarly source doesn&#x27;t mean it stands up to scrutiny: Michael Bellesiles landed himself in hot water attempting to argue <i>this very issue</i>, that the right to personal arms is a recent invention. The first tell I found in the sources you cited was when Toobin called the amendment text &quot;ungrammatical&quot;; it&#x27;s perfectly grammatical, just not rendered in modern style.<p>A more modern restatement of the amendment would be: &quot;Since a well-trained militia is necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to own and carry weapons shall not be infringed.&quot; The thinking of the time -- and this is all in the freakin&#x27; Wikipedia article on the Second Amendment should you care to look -- was that the right to self-defense and to defense against tyranny were of paramount importance -- thinking that predates the Constitution and has its roots in English law. To raise a defense force from among the people it was thought necessary to protect their right to own, train with, and carry weapons.<p>Now you may say that this right is trumped by others&#x27; right to live peaceably without fear of being shot. I won&#x27;t disagree. But what you should be agitating for is repeal of the second amendment, whose language is very plain once you parse it; not for the courts to obfuscate and reinterpret the meaning. That way does lie tyranny, for the next step is for the courts to interpret away your right to not be searched without a warrant, your right not to be punished for a crime without due process, etc. Because hey, the Constitution is a living document; that means its meaning in times of old has nothing to do with today.<p>(My belief is that the Constitution was <i>intended</i> as a living document and that&#x27;s why it has a well specified amendment process of which we should avail ourselves.)