Time to lay down arms

IN view of the gun lobby’s trumpeting of the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms, despite the Virginia massacre, let’s put this ‘right’ in context.

After their war of independence the fledgling state found itself surrounded by three colonial powers — Britain, Spain and France, though the latter had supported the Americans.

In 1791, with no standing army, Congress ratified the second amendment to the constitution, which reads: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”.