And it is why the founders enshrined a right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution: to prevent tyranny. “To disarm the people,” said founder George Mason, “this is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” As David Harsanyi states, “In the writings and speeches of the American Founders, the threat of disarmament was always a casus belli.”20 That’s also why a huge number of Americans owned guns at the founding of the country, despite misreporting to the contrary.21
