John Ensign: “I know that our Founders certainly looked at writings of prominent philosophers when debating the importance of the…”

“I know that our Founders certainly looked at writings of prominent philosophers when debating the importance of the right to keep and bear arms. William Blackstone, whom the Supreme Court has called the ``preeminent authority on English law for the founding generation,'' cited the right to keep and bear arms as ``one of the fundamental rights of Englishmen,'' calling it ``the natural right of resistance and self-preservation--the right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defense.'' Judge St. George Tucker, who wrote the first commentary on the Constitution in 1803, describes the second amendment as ``the true palladium of liberty.'' He continued: The right to self-defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine the right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”