The Second Amendment is short, and yet to a large degree, misinterpreted and misunderstood. It reads:

"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Often people focus on only the second half of the sentence and think it says all people can keep and bear any kinds of arms, anywhere, for their own safety. The Amendment, however, says the people keep and bear arms as part of a well-regulated Militia; a Militia that is necessary to maintain the security of the new United States.

The Militia was considered necessary to keep the security of the federal government, which would be responsible for regulating the militias. But Virginia, led by Patrick Henry and George Mason, worried that a militia controlled by the federal government would not protect the slave owners, if their enslaved men, women, and children tried to revolt. These owners insisted the control of militias stay with the states, so they could maintain their power.

“The original purpose for a citizens' militia was not some theoretical worry about standing armies or an idealized right of citizen militias to resist federal power. Instead of origianl purpose was a practical concern that the antislavery North would leave the South vulnerable to slave revolts."

Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution Elie Mystal, 2022.p. 38