(the militia)disbanded... in a pig's eye, or a statist's pipe-dream.

now, let us get one thing absolutely clear:

"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a Free State, the right of the People to keep
and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Parsed:
Primary Clause - "...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

"the right (not privilege) of (belonging to) the People (as with all other iterations in the Constitution:
INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS) to keep (own) and bear (carry, implicitly: on their persons) arms (implements
of warfare; including but not limited to light arms, shoulder arms, side-arms, cannon, warships [see Letters
of Marque and Reprisal], military blades, and military grade armor) *shall not be infringed* (first future
NEGATIVE indicative in the passive voice plus the perfect participle of "to infringe" - to abridge, cut
short, trespass: at no time is ever to be diluted, prevented, or reduced)

This IRREDUCIBLE right described in this clause is a necessary precondition for the existence of the
subject of the first Dependent Clause.

NOTE: The primary clause is a precondition of the dependent clauses. The primary clause remains valid
even if the dependent clauses (and the matters they describe) are excised, and is in no way limited to or
by the matters described in the dependent clauses.

1st Dependent Clause - "A well-regulated Militia,"

A well-regulated (debatable meaning, but definitely including having their own military arms, ammunition,
sundry other equipment, and trained skill in their use) Militia (sum total of the citizenry meeting the
standards set in the USC)

A well-armed and proficient POPULACE of men between 17-45 years of age is the "well-regulated
militia", a sub-set of "the People". The right to keep and bear arms is NOT restricted to the subset.
Rather, it is clear that for the subset to be possible, the whole populace must have the right to have and
use military arms in order to be able to produce and maintain this "militia" subset.

and WHY is that important?

2nd Dependent Clause - "being necessary for the security of a Free State,"

being (imperfect participle of "to be" - "is now and shall continue to be") necessary (REQUIRED,
essential, mandatory) for (belonging to/provided to/towards the purpose of)the security (safety, cohesion,
and stability) of a FREE (in American parlance: republican, rule of law, laws sharply limited by natural
rights of individuals, no legal class or caste system, strictly egalitarian) State (sociopolitical entity with set
borders, internally common culture and currency)

NOTE: This indicates that a generally armed populace is needed to create the Militia (militarily armed
prime male populace) which is in turn a required entity for maintaining not simply a State but a FREE
State.

The founders were well aware that a militia (and the armed populace from which it derives) is not only
not needed for the security of a non-free state, it is actually a threat to the continued existence of such a
tyranny. A non-free state needs only its state-sponsored military.

As is made abundantly clear, the founders decided to make CERTAIN that any state-sponsored military
would be enormously out-manned and out-gunned by the populace at-large.

There endeth the english/civics lesson.
It is a real pity this sort of lesson need ever be handed out.

312 posted on 03/15/2006 2:54:43 PM MST by King Prout