公民组织军队抵抗暴政的权利因此成为美国建国的基础性思想，被写进了美国宪法第二修正案中，第二修正案规定，由于国家需要治理有方的军队，因此人民有权利拥有武器。
The right of citizens to organize militias to fight government tyranny was therefore a founding idea of the new country, enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which declares that, because a country needs a well-regulated militia, the people have the right to bear arms.