About Gun Control

With regard to liberals, nothing is ever going to "work" on them, not because they do not understand but because they do not wish to understand. Their minds are made up and they are thus unconcerned with facts, logic, meaning, precedent, or historical example.

They do not want people (meaning people other than those like themselves) to own guns. A person who owns a gun is a citizen, never a subject. The purpose of modern liberalism to to control the lives and property of others by claim of want or need. The plain language of the 2nd Amendment creates an individual right to self-defense because our Founders understood the dangers both of Federal power and of factionalism, and provided for the people to be able to defend themselves, their families, their businesses and their property.

Compare the liberal's treatment of gun rights with abortion. The latter has no foundation in the Constitution except for within the shadow of "privacy rights", which certainly exist. But the presence of a second life in pregnancy, and the question of when that life begins and ends is nowhere found in the Constitution. Such matters were always left to the states for decision - until Roe v. Wade destroyed that underpinning, and well, a few million lives along with it.

FYI: "Militia" has always been historically understood, as well as codified in the US Code to include all able-bodied citizens. The National Guard was not even created until 1911, I believe, and is considered only part of the "militia".

What I’m saying is we shouldn’t even allow that “militia” to be part of the definition of who can own guns. Because able-bodied rules certain people out. Asthma? Heart condition? Paraplegic? Elderly? To even concede that the militia was the only intent of the Founding Fathers is to cede some ground.

The militia part is not part of the definition. It is a statement of the purpose of the Second Amendment. Translated out of the Early American Legalese the Second Amendment really says “Because we need a large, well equipped militia to help defend the country, the right of private citizens to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” There is not a requirement to join the militia, just the goal of creating large pool of potential militia members.

The hoplophobes just try to use the militia part to confuse things.

I would be happier with something like:
“The right of the individual to self-defense being inalienable, the Federal Government and the Several States may not prevent the private citizen from owning, keeping and bearing the arms of their choice.”
But, I'm sure lawyers can twist hell out that, too.

The challenge for 2nd Amendment supporters (like me) has always been the prefatory clause of the Amendment: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."

The Supreme Court ruling in Heller not only explains the historical antecedents for the clause, but more importantly establishes that the operative clause of the Amendment - "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"— is controlling and refers to a pre-existing right of individuals to possess and carry personal weapons for self-defense and intrinsically for defense against tyranny.

One effect of this opinion is that 2nd Amendment supporters no longer need explain the individual right to keep and bear arms in light of the prefatory clause's reference to militias; the former (a right) was not intended to be dependent on the latter (a purpose).

The plain language of the 2nd Amendment ~~creates~~ protects an individual right to self-defense

The right of self defense, and the right to arms, existed long before the Bill of Rights was written. The second amendment protects those rights, but did not create them.

In Jefferson's words:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,..."

Thank you: my error. You are absolutely correct. Our Constitution recognizes the liberties that are ours by the grace of God. Our government was instituted by men to protect freedom for ourselves and for future generations, even for those whose understanding might prove lacking and whose will would be insufficient to the task.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.