Firearms

[popeyespappy]

Americans didn't have any official rights until either the feds or the state gave it to them. You cannot say people had a right to bear arms before the Bill of Rights. People just did bear arms, as it was a sort of expected thing. It wasn't a right. If it was, who gave it to them? They were a brand new country with a brand new government that had yet to say they had a right to bear arms. Who gave them the right to turn away searches without a warrant, etc.? No one. We're not born with these rights. Some of the things were just accepted, but certainly were not rights by any definition I know.

John Locke would have disagreed with your assessment. Chapter Nine of his Second Treatise of Civil Government titled Of the Ends of Political Society and Government basically boils down to one simple concept. Individuals can do anything except that which is forbidden by law, and the state may do nothing except that which is authorized by law.