Posted on 05/03/2012 5:49:52 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Harvard Law School was embarrassed recently when one of its graduates, the putative President of the United States, demonstrated that he was unaware that the supreme Court has constitutional authority to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.[1]
And after reading a recent paper by Harvard law professor Einer Elhauge, one wonders whether the academic standards (or is it the moral standards?) of that once great school have collapsed.
Professor Elhauge says in “If Health Insurance Mandates Are Unconstitutional, Why Did the Founding Fathers Back Them?” (The New Republic, April 13, 2012), that Congress may force us to buy health insurance because in 1792, our Framers required all male citizens to buy guns; and in 1798 required ship owners using U.S. ports (dock-Yards) to pay a fee to the federal government in order to fund hospitals for sick or disabled seamen at the U.S. ports.
Oh! What tangled webs are woven when law professors write about Our Constitution! I have already proved that Art. I, Sec. 8, next to last clause (which grants to Congress “excusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever” over dock-Yards and the other federal enclaves) is what authorizes Congress to assess the fee from ship owners who use the federal dock-Yards. See: Merchant Seamen in 1798, Health Care on Federal Enclaves, and Really Silly Journalists.
Now I will show you where the Constitution grants authority to Congress to require adult citizens to get armed!
The Constitution Authorizes Congress To Require Citizens to Buy Guns and Ammunition.
In 1792, Congress passed “An Act more effectually to provide for the National Defense by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States”.2 This Act required all able-bodied male citizens (except for federal officers and employees) between the ages of 18 and under 45 to enroll in their State Militia, get a gun and ammunition, and train.
So, has this ever been repealed? Are we still required to own a firearm and ammunition?
I got it covered, myself, but it would be nice to tell people that I am following the law!
BFL
“Are we still required to own a firearm and ammunition?”
Pasted below is the law as it is now so far as I know. I believe the requirement to own a firearm and ammunition went out with the establishment of the National Guard, if not before.
Lot’s of us are a member of one of those “evil” militias :) And folks over 45 can be members of State militias depending on state law.
TITLE 10 - ARMED FORCES
Subtitle A - General Military Law
PART I - ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS
CHAPTER 13 - THE MILITIA
-HEAD-
Sec. 311. Militia: composition and classes
-STATUTE-
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are -
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
Yes, IIRC it was replaced by the Dick Act.
Thanks to Barack Hussein Obama, Congress need not order Americans to buy guns and ammo.
Americans took a long look at Obama and ObamaNation and soon shelves of gun stores across America were nearly bare.
If these idiots in DC demand that everyone (except certain unions and other thugs) buy Health insurance....
I am thinking that a mandate to purchase firearms and ammo may be a mute point.
I think that enough folks have already planned for that ruling.
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