Judge Andrew Napolitano says the Second Amendment protects gun rights so Americans can use those very guns to defend themselves from criminals and their own government.

Writing on Fox News, Napolitano said, “The Second Amendment protects the natural right to keep and bear arms; the same type of arms that crooks and thugs might use against you; and the same type of arms that government agents might use against you.”

He added, “We also know that the first thing tyrants do when they come to power is to disarm the population. Sometimes tyrants are jackbooted thugs. Sometimes tyrants are the majority in an elected government.”

Napolitano noted, “To the framers of the Constitution, an armed population is the best defense against tyranny.”

On July 6, 2014, Breitbart News reported that James Madison used Federalist 46 to stress that Americans are exceptional because armed. And Madison stressed that Americans have those arms in order to repel a tyranny from within our borders.

He explained that an armed citizenry, together with “the existence of subordinate governments to which the people are attached,” provide a framework in which the people can rally to defend their lives and liberty. Under that framework the people wound come together in “militias,” with officers being “appointed” by the aforementioned local, “subordinate governments.” The banding together of the citizenry would be meaningful because the citizens possess guns.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.