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Arms I’d take to be a shortened version of armaments
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Tisn't:
From Middle English armes, weapons, from Old French, pl. of arme, weapon, from Latin arma, weapons; see ar- in Indo-European Roots. V., from Middle English armen from Old French armer, from Latin armore, from arma
But in context, for the purposes of the Constitution, the word is what it was meant when it was written in 1789: carryable weapons. They didn't mean cannons or trebuchets or poison or bombs. They meant knives, pistols and rifles.
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If it was worth it, they'd do it.
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Exactly; and the presence of guns in the hands of citizens puts a very large constant on one side of the equation. Is it "worth it" to put the agent in harm's way? Rarely. Ergo, it doesn't routinely happen.
What this does is to ensure that there is
consent of the governed, because the governed do have the option of the use of deadly force in larger numbers if they do NOT consent. It is a wonderful way to ensure that there is not need for true revolution and much, much greater loss of life.