Page "Second Amendment to the United States Constitution" Paragraph 8

The right to have arms in English history is believed to have been regarded as a long-established natural right in English law, auxiliary to the natural and legally defensible rights to life.

The English Bill of Rights emerged from a tempestuous period in English politics during which two issues were major sources of conflict: the authority of the King to govern without the consent of Parliament and the role of Catholics in a country that was becoming ever more Protestant.

Ultimately, the Catholic James II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution, and his successors, the Protestants William III and Mary II, accepted the conditions that were codified in the Bill.

One of the issues the Bill resolved was the authority of the King to disarm its subjects, after James II had attempted to disarm many Protestants, and had argued with Parliament over his desire to maintain a standing ( or permanent ) army.

The bill states that it is acting to restore " ancient rights " trampled upon by James II, though some have argued that the English Bill of Rights created a new right to have arms, which developed out of a duty to have arms.

In District of Columbia v. Heller ( 2008 ), the Supreme Court did not accept this view, remarking that the English right at the time of the passing of the English Bill of Rights was " clearly an individual right, having nothing whatsoever to do with service in the militia " and that it was a right not to be disarmed by the crown and was not the granting of a new right to have arms.