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During the Supreme Court debate, Mr. Dellinger said "... the only use of the phrase 'keep and bear arms' is a military phrase, and --" (page 8). He was speaking of the time contemporaenous with the writing of the Constitution. Was Dellinger right or not? Let's look at contemporary quotes: "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."
--- Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors. "No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
---Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776. "The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."
---James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46. "To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, countries or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws."
---John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of the United States 475 (1787-1788) "Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
---Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788. "[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle; and when we see many men disposed to practice upon it, whenever they can prevail, no wonder true republicans are for carefully guarding against it."
---Richard Henry Lee, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788. The appearance left is that 'arms' were a common item in an 18th century household. The concept that arms only referred to military weaponry would imply that the people of the time commonly acquired expensive equipment that would normally see little use. Of course this was not the case. We can only conclude that the term 'arms' referred to all the weaponry in a household. From the smallest to largest, arms would have encompased knives, swords, handguns and long guns. But in those days, a long gun was a long gun. There was no concept of bird gun vs. turkey gun vs. varmint gun vs. deer gun. Since cannons would have been prohibitively expensive, they would probably relatively rare and not have been considered a tool individuals were expected to muster with. So, was the term 'arms' strictly a military term? No. 'Arms' referred to all the weaponry normally owned by the individuals of the times. And they would have been items you could pick up and carry.
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