Historians at the Library of Congress have unearthed an as-yet unseen footnote to the second amendment of the US Constitution, which allows all citizens the right to bear arms unless guns get to be effective weapons of death in the future.

At the time of writing in the 18th Century, all firearm weaponry known to man was single-shot rifles and muskets which had to be manually reloaded with a new bullet each and every time.

The footnote reads:

“… the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed… unless in the future guns can fire more than one bullet at a time, you idiots. That would be terrifying.”

The footnote to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution

The footnote was unanimously passed by Congress in 1791 but was hidden after a bitter James Madison folded over the bit of paper at the bottom of the page before anyone could see.

The founding fathers were apparently moved to add the footnote after the infamous Newfoundland Massacre of 1790, in which a Mr Tobias Prescott almost murdered over one person with a musket after firing into a crowd. At the time it was the deadliest massacre in US history.

“Mr Prescott was halfway through loading his next shot when he was overpowered by onlookers,” a news report said at the time.

“One can only imagine the horror that would befall in similar massacres if arms could fire more than once. Fortunately we have a dedicated Congress and that future will never happen.”

The Congress wrote to the family of the victim in the days following the massacre:

“We are sending our thoughts and prayers, and also immediate legislation.”