"the right of the people to bear arms is an express guaranty of the Constitution"

   In other Governments, the military force is organized for the support of tyranny, and the mass of people are neither trained nor allowed to possess arms. Here the military force is organized for the support of popular Government, and the right of the people to bear arms is an express guaranty of the Constitution. The protection of the liberties of  the country and the maintenance of public order, are confided to the hands of the free and independent citizens of the States.--[William Medill*. Columbus, Jan. 7, 1853.]

- Western Reserve chronicle,  Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, Wednesday, January 23, 1856. Vol. 40, No. 23. Pg. 4

* - William Medill, Feb., 1802 - Sept. 2, 1865, was elected to four straight terms as a representative to the Ohio state legislature, from Fairfield County, beginning in 1835. In 1838 Medill successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, and was reelected in 1840. During President James K. Polk's administration, Medill served in two appointed political positions. In 1845, Medill became second assistant postmaster general, a post that he only held for a short time before accepting an appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Medill had a reputation as a fair and reform minded manager of Native American issues. During this time, the federal government reorganized the Bureau of Indian Affairs and moved it from the War Department to the Department of the Interior. Medill held the post of commissioner from 1845 to 1850, when he returned to Ohio. Medill soon was involved once again in the state's politics. He became a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1850, and his fellow delegates elected him president of the convention. Under his leadership, the convention prepared the new Ohio Constitution of 1851. The new constitution established the position of lieutenant governor for the first time in Ohio history. Medill became the first person elected to this position in 1852 and again in 1853. When Wood resigned as governor to accept an appointment as United States Consul to Chile in 1853, Medill became Governor of Ohio. He was elected in his own right the same year and continued to serve as governor until 1855. He was the 22nd Governor of Ohio.