At the time the Second Amendment was added to the Constitution, the "arms" that people were allowed—urged—to keep were quite different from arms today.

Firearms—cannon, muskets, pistols—were limited to a single shot, then had to be reloaded. That involved dealing with a powder container, often a powder-horn, a bag of shot, and wadding to hold the powder and shot in place, and manipulating a ramrod. Then you had to prime the pan with gunpowder. I have talked with those who fancy antique firearms and have been told that, if you are really fast and adept, you might be able to reload a flintlock musket or pistol inside a minute.

The first repeating rifles and pistols didn't start appearing until well into the 1800s. The first use of repeating rifles was in the Civil War, and initially, the Navy Colt revolver (five shot) was the precursor of the famous Colt "six gun" carried by your favorite John Wayne-type cowboy hero.   

When the Second Amendment was written, many people depended on the muzzle-loading flintlock musket standing behind the door or hanging over the fireplace for food. And if soldiers were needed, these people were the "Minutemen." In case of war, an army (militia) could be formed quickly, by citizens who could grab their musket, powder-horn, and bag of shot, and be ready for battle in a "minute."

Mass murder with a firearm, like some of the shootings recently, would have been impossible at the time the Second Amendment was written. It needs to be changed, but the National Rifle Association and its wealthy and powerful supporters—including the arms industry, which makes huge profits any time there is a war—has, so far, been successful in blocking the attempts of many of the citizens to make even minor changes in the plethora of laws that have sprung up around the issue. Such as insisting on background checks, including at gun shows, and making private sales illegal.

How about making the clerk who sells a gun without a background check an accessory if the customer later commits murder with the gun? Lots of good ideas. But the trick is to get them past the "gun lobby" and enacted into law.

So it's not the simple matter that our British friends seem to think it is!

Don Firth