Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian political philosopher, believed that the best protection against a corrupt government was the economic independence of the citizens and his ability and willingness to become a warrior. Machiavelli believed that arms were essential in order for individuals to protect himself, hunt, defend his state and keep his rulers honest. The libertarian though of England drew heavily on this Florentine tradition. Libertarian writers noted that a dynamic relationship existed between arms, the individual, and society. From this theory emerged the belief that arms and a full array of civic rights were inseparable-that to deny some arms but allowing others to have them was a denial of freedom. The Assize of Arms of 1181 required every free man to be armed. Because England at that time had neither a police force or standing army, law and custom dictated that all men between 16 and 60 be prepared to assist in law enforcement and military defense. Although English law established a duty and a right to be armed, both were limited by class structure. Game laws were one tool used to limit the arming of common people.
The first recorded example of a gun control law was the Game Act of 1671. This act restricted the use of lands, formerly used for public hunting grounds, to those who earned forty to one hundred pounds per year. Those not allowed to hunt or whose land was valued at less than one hundred pounds were not allowed to keep weapons of any kind, not even for self-defense. Further attempts by Kings Charles II and James II to disarm large segments of the population, mainly Protestants, caused popular resistance and helped to implant the idea that the right to own arms was of fundamental political importance. By the eighteenth century possessing arms, for both personal protection and to counter balance political oppression, was viewed as a basic right in England and the new colonies.
