Posted on 12/21/2012 9:32:50 AM PST by Doctor 2Brains
We now come back to those words so loved by the gun grabbers, well regulated militia. Knocking down this silly little argument is vitally important because the gun grabbers notion that says the Second Amendment reads, in essence, militias are acceptable is simply and undeniably the only arrow in their quiver. Take that from them, and they are finished. Liberals do not maintain that the Second Amendment says We can take your guns. They believe (or pretend to believe) that the Second Amendment reads, Militias are acceptable. Being wholly ignorant of the doctrine of enumerated powers, liberals think this is enough to deny us our gun rights; for if the federal government, unrestrained by an enumeration, was empowered to legislate on all matters not put off limits by the Bill of Rights, and if the Second Amendment actually did read militias are acceptable, then the federal government would indeed have the authority to regulate our ownership of firearms. "...But readers of this magazine know better. A constitutional amendment that reads militias are acceptable, no more gives the federal government the authority to legislate against guns than it does the authority to tell me what color I may dye my hair, or what size carburetor I may put under my hood. If I had a right to buy guns before the militias are acceptable amendment was enacted, then I have a right to buy guns afterward."
IMO, the “Well-regulated militia” argument by gun grabbers trying to take the INDIVIDUAL’s right to arm himself is just a diversion tactic.
To me the “well-regulated militia” statement merely says that “yes, we need militias” “AND, militias are made up of free individuals who MUST have an unfettered right to arms.”
For this to be true, before a militia can be stood up, free individuals have to have free rights to guns, uninfringed by government.
To me the well-regulated militia statement merely says that yes, we need militias AND, militias are made up of free individuals who MUST have an unfettered right to arms.
Until the Civil War every militia member was expected to supply his own weapons, uniform and food. So, what the amendment says is; Civilians are expected to supply their own gun so they can be a member of a militia.
Setup a militia in the United States with a chapter in every State consisting of registered gun owners.
!
I agree. Besides you’ll never persuade the gun-grabbers and their useful-idiot abettors anyway!
My state does not register gun owners. Why should they?
The whole basic premise of the militia is simply that the government recognizes (and encourages) citizenry to be able to when necessary, arm itself and defend itself. From anything, foreign or domestic.
The individual right to self-defense was never surrendered just because government was given certain powers (from the people) in terms of keeping the peace or being able to declare war.
We know this for certain because courts have ruled government is not liable for anyone’s injury or death when their police officers and other leos and army folks don’t stop criminals from injuring or murdering citizens.
Gun owners don’t want to be targeted by being ‘registered’.
That didn’t work out too well for those required to ‘be registered’ in ‘30’s Germany.
I agree. My point was that the militia argument they use is BS.
Step 2: Require everyone to register and join the "militia."
Step 3: Ban guns.
Step 4: We know who you are and where you are. We're coming to get them now.
Step 5:
Hmmmmmm!
Change the name of the National Rifle Association to the National Rifle Militia and we might actually have it.
yup.
The authors fall into a common trap. “Well regulated” does not have anything to do with “regulating” a militia. The militia is the people. Well-regulated means that the people are well-trained and well-equipped period. The people keep their arms at home and bear them when needed.
It's already set up. The militia is the people. Read the amendment.
Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.Taken together, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments simply codify the objections of the Federalists to the Antifederalist demand for a bill of rights - that any such bill would inevitably fail to articulate all of the rights which, not being restricted by the Constitution, were intended to be retained by the people. Which means that the rights articulated in the Bill of Rights are intended as a floor under, rather than a ceiling above, the rights of the people.The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Two other constitutional citations are IMHO germane to this topic:
Article 1 Section 8.andThe Congress shall have power . . . To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries . . .
Article V - AmendmentArticle 1 Section 8 codifies the belief in, and expectation of, progress. Progress, one ofThe Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
"the Blessings of Liberty [expected to be secured by the Constitution] to ourselves and our Posterity is the default assumption of the Constitution. So in principle, if not in detail, the repeating rifle and the machine gun were anticipated by the framers of the constitution - and, if experience revealed the necessity, the framers provided for adjustments to be made to adapt to the ramifications of freedom and progress.
The Swiss model: Every able-bodied male citizen from late adolescence to the age of retirement is by law a member of the Swiss army, and MUST keep a firearm in working order and ample ammunition in the home.
A similar statute exists in Israel, a country that has been besieged since its founding, where the citizenry is essentially the militia, and every citizen receives training in the care and feeding of firearms. Again, possession of firearms in the home is strongly encouraged, with the police and members on active duty with the IDF authorized to carry at all times.
(http://law.onecle.com/constitution/article-1/47-militia.html)
(The age 45 limit is obviously outdated, as life expectancy is much higher now.)
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