Its all the fault of the English. "The right to keep and bear arms (often referred as the right to bear arms or to have arms) is the people's right to have their own arms for their defense as described in the philosophical and political writings of Aristotle, Cicero, John Locke, Machiavelli, the English Whigs and others.[1] In countries with an English common law tradition, a long standing common law right to keep and bear arms has long been recognized, as pre-existing in common law, prior even to the existence of national constitutions.[2] In the United States, the right to keep and bear arms is also an enumerated right specifically protected by the US Constitution such that people have a personal right to own arms for individual use, and a collective right to bear arms in a militia.[3]
The phrase "right of the people to keep and bear arms" was first used in the text of the United States Bill of Rights (coming into law as the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States), although similar legal wording can be found in the English Bill of Rights 1689 which states "Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence"...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_keep_and_bear_arms