James Madison

"Your right to bear arms is based on a reasonable degree of safety," Rudolph Giuliani said.

Nice try Rudy. Our right to bear arms is based on the Citizenry being able to defend itself against a Federal government gone bad. And you know it.

"The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence."
-From Federalist 46, attributed to James Madison

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed46.htm