Luckily, the Bill of Rights is more limited than history. So, rather than ranking 173 historical happenings, I can get away with ranking a much more manageable ten amendments, which constitute the United States’ Bill of Rights.
Coming in last place is the Second Amendment which reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Seriously, Framers? That’s the best you can give us? The Second Amendment is—by far—the most poorly worded and punctuated amendment. The opening noun clause “a well regulated Militia” is neither the subject nor the object of the sentence. The opening phrase isn’t even necessarily part of the substance of the amendment, but rather a justification for the amendment. But, if the justification no longer holds—if a well regulated militia is not so necessary for a free state—does the declarative clause lose its meaning? Antonin Scalia maintained that it did not in the Heller case, claiming that the first clause is a prefatory clause, a non-exclusive reason for having the right to keep and bear arms. Moreover, there is significant ambiguity as to what constitutes “Arms” and at what point a right (which is arguably collective despite Scalia’s ruling) is infringed. And, what the heck is that comma after “Arms” doing there?
No Pun Intended 