Prior to and through the Eighteenth Century, predominate usage of the expression "bear arms" exclusively referred to the profession of military service, as opposed to the use of firearms by civilians[3][4][5].
"In late-eighteenth-century parlance, bearing arms was a term of art with an obvious military and legal connotation. . . . As a review of the Library of Congress's data base of congressional proceedings in the revolutionary and early national periods reveals, the thirty uses of 'bear arms' and 'bearing arms' in bills, statutes, and debates of the Continental, Confederation, and United States' Congresses between 1774 and 1821 invariably occur in a context exclusively focused on the army or the militia.[3]"
As an example, the expression 'bear arms' is contained in the United States Declaration of Independence in the sense of 'military service' on a warship, as part of an indictment of the King of Great Britain for conscripting Colonial sailors to serve on British warships.
2007-07-27
06:23:25
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16 answers
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asked by
larry j
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Law & Ethics