...free State: standing armies should be avoided ; military should be subordinate to civil power: That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of...people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free State: that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as 'dangerous to...

...against the Crown in the Declaration of Independence.4 The Virginia Bill of Rights not only asserted that "standing armies in time of peace should be avoided as dangerous to liberty," but insisted on the strict subordination of the military to the civil power "in all cases." f Even...

...the wording of the other States' proposals that "the people have a right to keep and bear arms, that a well regulated Militia composed of the body of the...proper, natural and safe defence of a free State" M constituted a close parallel to these same States' proposals that "the people have a right to freedom...

...and bear Arms ; that a well regulated Militia, including the body of the people capable of bearing Arms, is the proper, natural and safe defence of a free State." [Emphasis in original.] North Carolina, on August 1, 1788, suggested wording identical to the Virginia...

...nineteenth principles are as follows: Seventeenth, That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well regulated Militia composed of the body of the...free State. That standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection...

...the wording of the other States' proposals that "the people have a right to keep and bear arms, that a well regulated Militia composed of the body of the...proper, natural and safe defence of a free State" ™ constituted a close parallel to these same States' proposals that "the people have a right to freedom...

...some such manner as the following. ******* "That the People have a Right to keep & bear Arms ; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of...People, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe Defense of a free State." Here, too, George Mason clearly indicated that the right of the people to...

...some such manner as the following. ******* "That the People have a Right to keep & bear Arms ; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of...People, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe Defense of a free State." Here, too, George Mason clearly indicated that the right of the people to...

...and bear Arms ; that a well regulated Militia, including the body of the people capable of bearing Arms, is the proper, natural and safe defence of a free State." [Emphasis in original.] North Carolina, on August 1, 1788, suggested wording identical to the Virginia...

...including a recognition "that the people have the right to keep and bear arms; that a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people trained to arms is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state." [94] From Virginia, the debate moved to New York. The New York controversy...