The Founding Fathers were...

I have seen many programs, read many articles and read a number of books regarding the Founding Fathers, those who wrote the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  I have seen how they were successful businessmen.  How they were inventors, innovators, soldiers and spies.  They risked their lives for the birth of our nation.  They were generally educated and accomplished.  I hear and see many people talk about the brilliance which they used to craft the bill that ensures freedom of speech and religion, prevents unlawful search and seizure and guarantees the right to trial by a jury of peers.  These men were the great men of their time.

Yet, when a discussion on the Second Amendment to the bill of rights is brought out, the opinion brought forth is that these were simple men who lacked the knowledge, foresight and scientific understanding to see where weapons development might lead, despite was was said when discussing other amendments.  I find this to be a curious, considering how many were involved directly in the War of Independence.  Looking into history, I see that firearms with a revolving cylinder were known as early as the 16th century, such as the revolving matchlock once owned by Louis the XIII of France.  I see that grenade launchers were not only in use as early as the 16th century (the Germans made them well), the British had a standard attachment for the 1747 carbine for launching hand grenades.  Speaking of which, grenades have been around since ancient times in one form or another.  During the classic ages when western civilisation centered in the Mediterranean area, they were more like Molotov cocktails intended to spread fire on ships, on those besieging a fixed fortification or inside a fixed fortification.  However, modern grenades have been around since the 16th century and were used by the British against the upstart colonists.  Rifling of barrels started in about the 1550s, so again we have "modern" inventions that apparently aren't so modern.  I won't even go into air rifles, artillery and rockets.

The founding fathers wrote this amendment with the full knowledge of what has already been sent to the battlefield.  Many of them had firsthand knowledge and the intellegence to know that things would only advance.  They had the option to put in wording like rifle, musket, pistol, flintlock and so on.  They didn't.  They debated this item for over three months before finalizing this amendment.  They knew what they were doing when they did it.