Gardiner on The Meaning of "Going Armed" in the 1328 English Statute of Northampton

Richard Gardiner, Government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Fairfax County Circuit Court, has published The Meaning of 'Going Armed' in the 1328 English Statute of Northampton. Here is the abstract.

Virtually all writers on the subject of the right to bear arms, both pro and con, simply assume, without any evidence, that the term “going armed” in the 1328 English Statute of Northampton meant carrying weapons. A review of the royal decrees and statutes contemporaneously issued and enacted demonstrates, however, that “going armed” did not equate to carrying weapons and certainly did not refer to firearms -- rather, “going armed” was a medieval term of art which referred to wearing body-protecting armour.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.