On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several assemblies, conventions, and councils or committees of safety of the United Colonies, immediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within their respective colonies, who are notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or who have not associated, and shall refuse to associate, to defend, by arms, these United Colonies, against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies; and to apply the arms taken from such persons in each respective colony, in the first place to the arming the continental troops raised in said colony; in the next, to the arming such troops as are raised by the colony for its own defense, and the residue to be applied to the arming the associators; that the arms when taken be appraised by indifferent persons, and such as are applied to the arming the continental troops, be paid for by Congress, and the residue by the respective assemblies, conventions, or councils, or committees of safety

The Continental Congress clearly did not believe that individual Americans had a right to bear arms, but instead that American communities could arm “associators” or militia for their own defense.

Sources: Journals of the Continental Congress at 205 accessed at https://archive.org/details/us_congress_continental/lljc004/page/204/mode/2up; https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-march-14-1776/

On this day 250 years ago at Sandy Point on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, two small South Carolina boats captured a Loyalist boat carrying a cargo of flour. One Patriot and three Loyalists were killed, but I have not been able to identify the South Carolinian who gave his life for American freedom in this engagement.

Sources: Parker’s Guide at 107; https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/