The debate is fierce with passions on both sides of the argument. If you have an opinion or want to engage in the debate, it might be wise to know what you’re talking about.

Federalist papers #29 and #46 deal with the subject of the right to bear arms.

Nowhere in the Federalist Papers do the authors write about the right to bear arms for any purpose other than what the second amendment states – which is:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper #29

If circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist. You can read more about this Essay by clicking HERE.

James Madison in Federalist Paper #46

It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Those who are best acquainted with the last successful resistance of this country against the British arms, will be most inclined to deny the possibility of it. Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.  You can read more about this Essay by clicking HERE.