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From: http://www.constitution.org/cons/wellregu.htm
The meaning of the phrase "well-regulated" in the 2nd amendment
From: Brian T. Halonen <halonen@csd.uwm.edu>
The following are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, and bracket in
time the writing of the 2nd amendment:
1709: "If a liberal Education has formed in us well-regulated
Appetites and worthy Inclinations."
1714: "The practice of all well-regulated courts of justice in the
world."
1812: "The equation of time ... is the adjustment of the difference
of time as shown by a well-regulated clock and a true sun dial."
1848: "A remissness for which I am sure every well-regulated person
will blame the Mayor."
1862: "It appeared to her well-regulated mind, like a clandestine
proceeding."
1894: "The newspaper, a never wanting adjunct to every well-regulated
American embryo city."
The phrase "well-regulated" was in common use long before 1789,
and remained so for a century thereafter. It referred to the property of
something being in proper working order. Something that was well-regulated
was calibrated correctly, functioning as expected. Establishing government
oversight of the people's arms was not only not the intent in using the
phrase in the 2nd amendment, it was precisely to render the government
powerless to do so that the founders wrote it.
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