The Right of self defense is the 1st Law of Nature - 1803

 shared Tenth Amendment Center's photo.

"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. . . .

The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible.
Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."
-St. George Tucker, 1803