Unstated so far, and not mentioned in the article..
The militia is 'all the people'!
This was well understood until the 1970s when the libs started rewriting history.
Posted on 06/05/2006 12:35:33 PM PDT by neverdem
US v. Miller determined that a sawed off shotgun was not a suitable weapon for a militia. No more, no less.
Interesting today that Law Enforcement agencies prefer shotguns with 14" barrels, which would be illegal for you and me.
ping for later
We have plenty to be proud of, and a lot to be ashamed of. No doubts about that....
A lot of grief would be spared if they'd only read the black parts of Constitution.
Not quite. Letter's of M&R were authorization for privateers, already armed, to act on behalf of the government in a legal capacity. No more. No less. They were also loot sharing agreements as well. Government got its armed ships, Captains gave govt a cut of anything they captured.
Well said.
Don't have time to skim all the posts, so hope I'm not redundant:
'They also didn't feel that gun ownership should be completely unregulated, as made evident in their opening words "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state . . ."'
"Regulated" means EQUIPPED, or regimented. NOT as in fraught with rules. Notice it is the MILITIA which is "regulated" - not arms!
You are so right and one group that has been adamant about preserving our right to keep and bear arms has been JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP (www.jpfo.org).........it's been a while but I know they did a report on the major genocides of this century which killed those millions you spoke of and in every single case the genocides were preceded by major gun confiscation efforts.
That is supported by their deliberations and debates.
There needed to be a standing or standby army, a 'well-regulated militia'. Such a force could be used against people but would be tempered and steered toward negotiation and litigation before force was committed because of the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd provided a check on outright tyranny then and now.
Two anecdotes:
1. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising held the Germans at bay for weeks because of the existence of a very few guns.
2. In my experience, a bum came to my door late one night and knocked loudly on my door. I answered while in my robe. The bum held his arms up high and screamed don't shoot! don't shoot! I had no gun and I asked him what he wanted. He said he wanted to sell me magazines. I said I wasn't interested and closed the door. Inside I reflected that it was good that people think other people are armed. It keeps criminals and would-be criminals in check. And my example here is a great example of why I and others should be able to own firearms without having to register them. Because otherwise criminals can find out who has and who doesn't have guns.
Unstated so far, and not mentioned in the article..
The militia is 'all the people'!
This was well understood until the 1970s when the libs started rewriting history.
All other sections of the Bill of Rights prohibit government from doing certain things.
Yet we're supposed to believe the the 2nd (alone) is intended to guarantee a right of governments to do something nobody was trying to keep them from doing and anyway quite adequately covered in the text of the Constitution itself!?
"The Congress shall have Power To ... provide for the common defense of ... the United States"
"To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
"To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years"
"To provide and maintain a Navy"
"To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces"
"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions"
"To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress"
"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States"
And
Even if the Second Amendment were not included in the first place, the right to keep and bear arms would not be a concern of the federal government because there is no where else written in the Constitution that the federal government was delegated the power to control guns at the local level. Therefore, the right is the people's right.
The truth of the matter is that we don't need an amendment for the perfectly logical and rational necessity to protect our lives when and where it is threatened.
Humans can't run as fast as a wild beast, nor do they have the claws and fangs of one. But we do have a brain to fashion something that makes us equal.
If the right to keep and bear arms is a non-enumerated right, it is plainly inferred in the D of I, which lists the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We have the right to life, therefore, the right to self-defense. And it's my personal choice in how I want to exercise it. When I'm the victim, the battlefield is going to be tilted in my favor, not the aggressor's, for my life is worth more to me than the life of someone who is trying to murder me.
They use a bow and arrow, I'll use a rifle. They use a sling shot, I'll use a piano-throwing trebuchet. They use a pistol, I'll use a shotgun. They use a tire iron, I'll use a battering ram. They use a pellet gun, I'll use a .22. They use a .22, I'll use a .50 caliber. They throw bricks, I'll throw hand grenades. They use a machine gun, I'll strafe them from an airplane. They use a stick, I'll use a nail-studded club. They use a tazer, I'll screw their d... into a bulb socket and turn on the juice. They aim their car at me, I'll bulldoze their house and flatten 'em in their sleep. They use a knife, I'll use a samarai sword and watch the look in their eyes when they try to turn their head.
My advice to anyone who wants to kill me: Pray that you're successful on your first attempt.
So if everyone had that attitude, we'd have the most peaceful and polite society on earth and the word, 'murder' would be defined under archaic expressions in the dictionary.
Thanks for your clear thoughts....the second part of the 2nd amendment...the militia....is us the citizens. Not the National Guard as you state. You are right...the libs will scream over that one.
Bump.
Even some noted liberal professors admit the obvious. Harvard's Laurence Tribe says, "The 14th Amendment, which makes parts of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states, reflected a broad agreement that bearing arms was a 'privilege' of each citizen." Fellow Harvard liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz agrees, and scolds fellow liberals for twisting the words of the Second Amendment in a way that could come back to haunt them. "Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming that it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a safety hazard," said Dershowitz, "don't see the danger of the big picture." He added, "They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like."
In most states a drivers license is not required to own a motorized vehicle, just to operate it on public highways.
EXACTLY!!!
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.