“The right to keep and bear arms is neither granted by nor guaranteed by the Constitution. The Second Amendment merely names and acknowledges the right and confirms government pledges not to infringe on that right. Just as we don’t gain the right to be armed by any document, nor do we keep it or lose it by any document, nor does any document confer validity or any other particular quality to it, nor can any document expand or reduce it. A document is an incidental artifact, it may be reinterpreted or altered or even withdrawn, but the right it attempts to describe remains.
“Natural rights are not dispensed by men. One man can’t give another man permission to be armed, it’s not his to give. Permission schemes are worse than invalid, worse than fraud, worse than “pre-crime” star chambers, although they are all of these. Permission schemes are a denial of personhood itself. The right to be armed does not rest on its acceptability to others. No legislative or judicial body can claim authority to dispense the right to keep and bear arms and also claim legitimacy, and no person can apply for permission and see himself as, or be seen as, or be, a free man.” – Ol’ Remus, in the Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report [1] blog