I've been told that the 14th amendment to the US constitution (passed by Congress 1866, ratified 1868) was interpreted at the time as protecting the right of the freed slaves to have guns (and, by extension, for the rest of us to do so). For lawyers out there in pen-l land, is this a reasonable interpretation?
This seems to be the relevant passage: AMENDMENT XIV Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -- Jim Devine / "The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." -- Oscar Levant
