“I THINK THE PRINCIPLE behind the 2nd Amendment is a good one,” Rep. Robert F. Ellsworth of Kansas writes. “That is, the right to keep arms meant that the people, as a collective body, could rise up in resistance.”

Even today, witness Hungary, I think this is an important right for the people to have. Obviously, the slave states of Eastern Europe and other parts of the world today, are afraid to trust the people with arms…Don't you think that is just as applicable in Hungary in 1961, as it was in many countries of Europe in the 18th century, when The Federalist was written?

Hungary?  Ellsworth? 1961?

Regular readers of this column know that every month, GUNS, the magazine I write the "Rights Watch" column for, posts the corresponding monthly issue from 50 years ago as a free download on its website, giving us a fascinating window into a past some of us are old enough to remember.