[Pharmboy]

Interesting point about the movement from the country to the city; however, I don't think there was that much freedom for the young farmboys to come to town unless they were particularly gifted so they could learn a trade (that is, the family needed them to work the acreage). But, as another poster above remarked, the local governments encouraged an armed citizenry.

[Robert A Cook PE]

May I ask (rather than point out, since I'm not at all sure) about the people's "movement" from country to city you reference?

See, two generations "before" the revolution - even that near Bpston - it was ONLY Boston, the Commons (where cattle were grazed even in the late 1770's! - and wilderness....there was little movement from county to city because there was very, very little settled "country" around Boston.

The region between Boston and Lexington/Concord was densely forested with only scattered farms and isolated villages. Guns would have been needed (-2, -1 generations before teh Tea Party even) for self-defense first against Indians, then against crooks and thieves for anybody traveling on those roads.

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Don't forget that the first arguemnts (before Boston's attack on the colonial arms stored at Lexington!) were teh British confiscation of arms and powder at Williamsburg VA.

The writers of the 2nd Amendment LIVED for years with direct evidence of how the ruling government repeatedly tried to take their weapons.