Opinion: Now the Supreme Court will decide what it means to ‘bear’ arms

Blew my 11-year-old son’s mind yesterday when he made an unexpected reference to “the right to keep and bear arms”, and I retorted “I’m exercising my right to bare arms now” and pointed at my, well, sleeveless arm.

The states were ordered to draw up their constitution BEFORE the Federal Constitution came into being.

From the Pennsylvania Constitution Sept 28, 1776.

This is a direct quote

Declaration of Rights: XIII "That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state;"

then goes on about a standing army.

You can't say it any plainer.

The fallout of this ruling will be immense. Huge pressure to ensure it doesn’t go where we know it should. Among other interesting cases, this will quickly be followed up by citizens moving state-to-state, bringing legally obtained weapons (especially federally-registered NFA firearms) from the former (say, Georgia) to state which ban such weapons outright and with severe penalties (say, New York). Wife has said she wants to move back to NY (nice state, politics aside); I’ve told her I’d immediately file suit against that state on exactly this point. Popcorn?

Bear means to carry.

Not complicated.

the right of the people to keep and bear Arms"

The word, "and" makes the statement absolutely clear that the right goes beyond ownership or possession, it clearly states that the people can bring arms to bear (to provide security in their lives through all of the possible uses for guns).

agree

Carry them on your person.

There is no other *definition*.

Are any members of the Supreme Court gun owners? Answer that for how the case will go.

But of course everyone wanted to focus on abortion, so look what we end up with. A 2nd amendment that is treated less than others, ignored, infringed.

I knew that you did!)

Besides killing a baby...which has become some kind of right for the mother because it’s her body....other people involved in the killing...have no such right and should be prosecuted for murder.

Bear:. Able to carry.

If an 11 Bravo can carry a weapon, I can carry the same weapon.

Next case.

5.56mm

so they bear the burden of defining, bear... wonderful

Only reason they are going this route is because they lost the arguement on the word “militia” Next word to define will be “Rights!”

We lost the Republic when people were convinced that the children of foreigners born with multiple nationalities are “naturally” Americans.

One is not “naturally” an American when one is born with multiple nationalities.

Natural born citizen means born here of citizen parents with ONE nationality, ONE loyalty, ONE allegiance.

So maybe they were for hunting Bear. Was there a lot of bear in 1776?

Also, the moment the electoral college is eliminated we are no longer a republic.

This ought to be easy. But I guarantee that the liberals will fight it tooth and nail.

Now, the court must construe one of the amendment’s 14 other words: “bear.”

If that doesn't prove too taxing, maybe they could also contemplate the meaning of the word "infringed".

p.521 “Staten Island is a two good (Dutch) miles from the fort (Amsterdam). It was settled on the south side, out of sight of the fort, by ten or twelve men capable of bearing arms.”
1650`s New Netherland: also cf. ibid., p.430 “the town contained 40 men capable of bearing arms”

O`Callaghan, “Hist. Of New Netherland”, Vol.2, p.134, `Provisional Order for the Government, Preservation and Peopling of New Netherland`

also cf. ibid., p.521 “Staten Island is a two good (Dutch) miles from the fort (Amsterdam). It was settled on the south side, out of sight of the fort, by ten or twelve men capable of bearing arms.”
1655 “ Considering it wiser to secure one’s own house than to aim at the possession of one at a distance, especially as the loss of the first might be caused thereby,” the Council at Fort Amsterdam dispatched an express to the South River recalling the Director-general, for bodies of savages continued prowling over the island, firing and burning whatever came in their way. Whilst this terror still prevailed, Stuyvesant returned to the Manhattans, and by his energy and zeal aided much in re-assuring the colonists, Chap. He sent soldiers to the out-settlements, laid an embargo on the vessels then about to sail, and ordered such of the passengers as were able to bear arms not to depart “ until it should please God to change the aspect of affairs.” A plank curtain was thrown up, to prevent the Indians scaling the city walls, to meet the expense of which six thousand three hundred guilders were raised “ from the merchants, traders, skippers, factors, passengers and citizens generally.”2 No persons, on any account, were to go into the country without permission, nor unless in a number sufficient to ensure their safety...” ibid, p.293
1656,1664

“At the commencement of Stuyvesant’s administration, the number of persons capable of bearing arms is stated to have been between two hundred and fifty and three hundred, in and around the capital.3 Including Rensselaerswyck, this would give a population of two thousand souls. “ ibid, p.540

Vermont Constitution
`Article 16th. Right to bear arms; standing armies; military power subordinate to civil

That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State

Maine Constitution 1820

`Keep and bear arms
Section 16. To keep and bear arms. Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned

Massachusetts Constitution 1780

`Art. XVII. The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence.`

Connecticut Constitution

`Sec. 17. Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defence of himself and the state`

North Carolina Constitution 1776

17. That the people have a right to bear arms, for the defense of the State; and as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

Pennsylvania Constitution 1776
XIII. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; And that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

To bear arms:
Actually it means more than that:
1887 Webster`s Dictionary:
“to bear, bear v.t., “
“1. to support and move; or carry
2. To be equipped, furnished, or marked with;
to have as belonging, distinguishing, identifying, or characterizing; as to bear a sword, an inscription,, a title, a good reputation or an evil look,
7. To be directed; to be pointed; as, to plant guns to bear upon a trench”

to “BEAR: 1. to support and move; CARRY.
2. to be equipped furnished ..as to BEAR A SWORD.
3. to be directed; to be pointed, as TO PLANT GUNS TO BEAR UPON AS TRENCH’”
‘Thus 2 and 3 above appear refer to BEAR as associated with WAR
if the two definitions are combined we have”
to keep and bear arms=
To preserve arms, to maintain arms, to guard [with arms], to DEFEND with arms;
to NOT LET GO ONE`S POSSESSION OF ARMS OR CONTROL OF ARMS’
TO WATCH WITH ARMS, TO GUARD WITH ARMS, TO MAINTAIN WITH ARMS
TO BEAR ARMS = TO SUPPORT ARMS, TO MOVE ARMS, TO CARRY ARMS
TO BEAR ARMS = TO BE EQUIPPED WITH ARMS, TO BE FURNISHED WITH ARMS;
TO BEAR ARMS = TO DIRECT ARMS, TO POINT ARMS UPON A MILITARY TARGET
‘TO FURNISH ARM[S]= “TO PROVISION FOR EFFECTIVE ACTION FOR OPERATION, ESPECIALLY IN WAR”
ALL above Webster`s Dictionary 1887
‘
Therefore “to keep ARMS” MEANS NOT TO LOSE CONTROL OF= ergo SO-CALLED Gun Control’ is a violation of The Second Amendment.
“’TO BEAR ARMS IS A TERM OF WAR-
TO KEEP ARMS IS IMPLICIT IN “TO BEAR ARMS”
Historical examples of WAR TERM ‘BEARING ARMS”

“An account of the numbers of men able to bear arms in the ...”
by
Thomas Carte
An Account
England: 1744
PREFACE May 1 1743

“As all appearances bid us soon expect a war with France,
and the accounts given of the condition and abilities
of that kingdom differ prodigiously,
according to the different views,
inclinations or prepossessions of our
political writers, it is thought proper to publish
to the world the following accounts:
as well as the numbers of men able to BEAR ARMS,
and fit to be employed in the service of the war...”

‘We notice also in the Colony records, 1680, “Srj.John Barker was freed
from BEARING ARMS for the wounds in the late war.”
p17.

p.239 “Peter Collamore (early Collamer) was on the list of those liable
to BEAR ARMS in Scituate 1643.”

p.118 ‘Military Affairs’ “In 1643 the Colony Court ordered a list of
men liable to BEAR ARMS that year.”

“History of Scituate, Massachusetts: from its first settlement til 1831”
by Samuel deane, 1831

p.168,
‘No freeman shall be compelled to BEAR ARMS, nor pay an equivalent therefore,
except in times of exigency or WAR.”

p. “Every man should be a citizen, and every citizen a soldier; and
then he would be best able to defend
his country and his own property.”

p.180. “The right of conscience in relation to BEARING ARMS is a scared right.
It is equally sacred with the right to self-defence.”

“But what is meant of our militia? Why, when he spoke of them, he
meant American citizens, accustomed to the use of arms;
not in the camp or in the field, but American citizens accustomed to
use THEIR ARMS, and to all that manual dexterity
which could only be gained by long practice; not field maneouvering
and marching, but a perfect knowledge of the rifle
and the musket. Such a use of the rifle that you could take
he eye
out of a squirrel on the highest tree. This was in all,
and beyond this there was no necessity to go in this country. In this
the soldiers of our country had a superiority of those
of any other. Ask the British officers who were engaged in the last
war whether there was no superiority in our troops
in this respect. WEll, was this to be learned at military musters?
....But when it is necessary, the American citizen is
always ready to BEAR ARMS without this militia training. how was it
before in the last war in this State? [War of 1812]
Were their any militia trainings to make the cititzens of
Pennsylvania prepared for service?
Not At all-they were ready to meet the enemy in the east and in the
west. How was it in Tennessee before the Battle of New Orleans.
Did the men who fought that battle perform militia service to prepare
them for it?
No sir- it was known that they did not. Were the militia of Bunker
Hill, prepared for the events of that day
of glory by previous trainings as militia? No sir.’ p183

p.79 “He thought, too, that we ought not to prohibit aliens who had
made this their adopted country,
from BEARING ARMS in its defence in time of WAR.”

WEARING ARMS< BEARING ARMS
Volunteers#War of 1812

“Governor Synder, 1815- Our militia and volunteers were actually
engage with the enemy..”p.99
‘...if we destroyed the militia system, we did not indeed take away
the right of the people to bear arms,
but we destroyed the inclination, the habit of WEARING ARMS; and such was not his [Gov. Snyder]sentiment
as to what ought to be the condition of things in a country like ours.
He believed that not only right, but the habit of WEARING ARMS was
essential to freemen,
and to the preservation of the liberty of freemen. This was the
principle inserted into
the Constitution of the United States; and if we did away with this,
the effect would be to destroy
the principle and the feeling altogether.”-p.100

p.105. “The terms of the Constitution he need not refer to; and the
amendment now under discussion
was simply an AFFIRMANCE OF A POWER,-THAT THE RIGHT OF A PEOPLE TO
KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.”
“Who fought the Battles, of Lexington,Bunker Hill and Saratoga?
...Who saved Baltimore? ... Who obtained the victory at New Orleans?
These militia, trained and disciplined in their own houses;
not practised in the field, but BRINGING THEIR GUNS WHICH THEY WERE
TAUGHT TO USE WHEN CHILDREN.”p.111
viz “ [all above from p.168 are sourced from
“Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Vol. 4, by the Pennsylvania
Constitutional Convention, 1837-8