What is the militia? It is We The People. Each citizen must have the right to Keep and Bear Arms, because as the Constitution reminds us, it's "necessary to the security of a free State. " That reminder, which is set out in the prefatory clause of the Second Amendment, clearly explains why there's an operative clause prohibiting any interference with that pre-existing Right. The Framers fully understood the lessons of history, and recognized from their own experience, that our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, in defense of ourselves, our families, and our Freedoms, was the one Right which would ultimately serve the American People as the guardian of all others.

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