Posted by Eugene Volokh:
An 1869 Data Point on the Second Amendment:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_14-2008_12_20.shtml#1229540670
An Act to Protect the Owners of Firearms, from the Oregon Legislature
in Jan. 26, 1869:
WHEREAS, The constitution of the United States, in article second
of amendments to the constitution, declares that "the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed;" and the
constitution of the state of Oregon, in article first, section
twenty-seven, declares that "the people shall have the right to
bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state;" therefore;
� 1. Every white male citizen of this state above the age of
sixteen years, shall be entitled to have, hold, and keep, for his
own use and defence, the following firearms, to wit: either or any
one of the following named guns, and one revolving pistol: a rifle,
shotgun (double or single barrel), yager, or musket; the same to be
exempt from execution, in all cases, under the laws of Oregon.
� 2. No officer, civil or military, or other person, shall take
from or demand of the owner any firearms mentioned in this chapter,
except where the services of the owner are also required to keep
the peace or defend the state.
Naturally, this doesn't necessarily mean that exemption from execution
-- which is to say exemption from seizure for payment of legal
judgments -- was understood as a legally mandatory aspect of the state
or federal constitutional right to bear arms; the statute was likely
seen as building on the constitutional provisions, rather than
implementing their literal command. But it does suggest that at least
in late 1860s Oregon, the Second Amendment was seen as referring to an
individual right to bear arms, including for purposes of one's "own
use and defence," and covering revolvers as well as long guns.
By the way, the Oxford English Dictionary reports that a yager is a
kind of rifle: "1848 H. W. HERBERT Field Sports U.S. II. 254
Throughout the South and South-West,..the yager, as it is called, or
short-barrelled, large-bored piece, is universally preferred."
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