Downtown Dallas: Police officers shot by two or more snipers from elevated positions.

[Drew Phipps]

The professor's point about the Second Amendment not applying to native Americans is well taken; however, I'm not so sure about the "disarming black people" part. My take on the Second Amendment is that it was originally designed to prevent the Federal Government from interfering with the sovereignty of the States. In fact, until 1925, the Bill of Rights (which contains the Second Amendment) didn't even apply to the states, just the federal government.


The Constitution was, early on, "intended" only to apply to "citizens" of the US. In 1857, the US Supreme Court ruled that African Americans weren't citizens. In 1862, "free men of color" became citizens. In 1866, all persons born in the US were now considered citizens. Despite that, the official position was that "reservation born" Indians weren't even considered "citizens" of the US until 1924. So I'm thinking that the professor's opinion, about the intent of the Framers (circa 1776) doesn't square with the actual history of the Constitution.

Edit: It has also occurred to me that women weren't included in the original (Framer's) definition of "citizen." Women didn't get to vote until 1918. So, I wonder if the good professor believes that disarming women was a concern of the Framers in 1776....