Kay Bailey Hutchison: “the Framers did not intend for this right to be collective. If that was their purpose, it would have been satisfied with…”

“the Framers did not intend for this right to be collective. If that was their purpose, it would have been satisfied with article I, section 8 of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power ``to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel Invasions.'' The Framers went further than that. They wanted to ensure that gun ownership was recognized by posterity as an individual right. They put it in the Bill of Rights for that purpose. It is a compilation of individual rights of free speech, freedom of religion, a fair trial, and the right to keep and bear arms. The Framers looked at the governments of Europe. James Madison said: The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would surely shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did. Later on, President Madison explained: 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. The right to bear arms should not be an issue in the United States. The Constitution is clear, and the Supreme Court has spoken. Our Second Amendment right ensures that our people have the ability to secure all of our rights and defend them, if necessary, from government suppression. It is this right that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people must never extinguish.”