I was actually thinking of the Federalist Papers justification when I wrote my comment ;) We're not talking about the people overthrowing the government, but ra

I was actually thinking of the Federalist Papers justification when I wrote my comment ;) We're not talking about the people overthrowing the government, but rather reclaiming a share of the wealth which they can't get any other way, because the wealthy always ended up capturing the permanent power structures. It's worth noting that even with wealth these days being virtual (there are no massive vaults filled with gold in company HQs), there is still a physical aspect to accessing that wealth - someone that physically takes over the corporate headquarters of Walmart has access to systems that can distribute the wealth. Of course if you're just a bunch of bandits that does this, the government will pursue you to reclaim the money. But if you do it as part of a political movement with wide community support, politicians are much more likely to let it lie. I think the 2nd Amendment is a "meta" amendment. It's a recognition that power tends to concentrate, and that to stop this some chaos needs to be maintained in the system.