They consist now of the whole people, except a few public...
Founding Fathers saw a universal right to militia and arms
George Mason, the father of the Bill Rights, considered the militia to consist of all of the people, expressing this in Virginia's U.S. Constitution ratification convention on June 16, 1788[4] - "I ask, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor..." This expression clearly denotes the militia as something that should not be altered into an exclusive form. In other words, it must be representative of the whole people and preserved as a universal right.