For the people who always say militias are obsolete:
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
— George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on Ratification of the Constitution, Elliot, Vol. 3, June 16, 1788
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? [see link for complete quote]
--Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
"The right [to bear arms] is general. It may be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. [See link for full quote]
-- Thomas M. Cooley, General Principles of Constitutional Law, Third Edition [1898]
More quotes at link
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/quotes/arms.html
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