<P> In footnotes 40 and 41 of the Commentaries, Tucker stated that the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment was not subject to the restrictions that were part of English law: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed . Amendments to C.U.S. Art . 4, and this without any qualification as to their condition or degree, as is the case in the British government" and "whoever examines the forest, and game laws in the British code, will readily perceive that the right of keeping arms is effectually taken away from the people of England ." Blackstone himself also commented on English game laws, Vol. II, p. 412, "that the prevention of popular insurrections and resistance to government by disarming the bulk of the people, is a reason oftener meant than avowed by the makers of the forest and game laws ." Blackstone discussed the right of self - defense in a separate section of his treatise on the common law of crimes . Tucker's annotations for that latter section did not mention the Second Amendment but cited the standard works of English jurists such as Hawkins . </P> <P> Further, Tucker criticized the English Bill of Rights for limiting gun ownership to the very wealthy, leaving the populace effectively disarmed, and expressed the hope that Americans "never cease to regard the right of keeping and bearing arms as the surest pledge of their liberty ." </P> <P> Tucker's commentary was soon followed, in 1825, by that of William Rawle in his landmark text, A View of the Constitution of the United States of America . Like Tucker, Rawle condemned England's "arbitrary code for the preservation of game," portraying that country as one that "boasts so much of its freedom," yet provides a right to "protestant subjects only" that it "cautiously describ (es) to be that of bearing arms for their defence" and reserves for "(a) very small proportion of the people (.)" In contrast, Rawle characterizes the second clause of the Second Amendment, which he calls the corollary clause, as a general prohibition against such capricious abuse of government power, declaring bluntly: </P> <P> No clause could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to congress a power to disarm the people . Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretence by a state legislature . But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both . </P>

What does a well regulated militia actually mean