SAUL CORNELL
The professor was addressing a theory of some gun rights advocates that the framers of the constitution intended the 2nd Amendment as a check on a dictatorial Federal Government. The history of the militias shows that they have been used by states never to foment rebellion but often called out to suppress rebellions of citizens who thought that their rights had been infringed such as Shays Rebellion, the Whisky Rebellion and the repeated use of state militias to enforce laws and quell riots and labor disputes.
Saul Cornell, is the Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History at Fordham University, a former Professor of history at Ohio State University and the former Director of the Second Amendment Research Center at the John Glenn Institute.
