[Beckwith]

These are the same people who try to deny that the Second Amendment applies to you and me, but applies to the National Guard instead.

You have to give the Founding Fathers high marks for prescience. The National Guard wasn't established until the 20th Century.

The 1903 Dick Act, which replaced the old Militia Act of 1792, divided all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 into the organized militia and the reserve militia.

The National Guard was formed in 1916 by the the National Defense Act. The new act provided increased federal support and regulation.

My own view is that the Constitution should be interpreted with the mindset of the Founders. The militia was an organization of neighbors, not a federally funded professional army.

The second thing to remember is that the militia was used to overthrow the government of King George.

The People have a right to keep and bear arms in order to form militias in order to defend themselves against an unjust government.

No wonder government works so hard to disarm the People.

[KC Burke]

I think the whole debate over the definition of "militia" is playing into the hands of the totalitarian leftists. The "milita" phrase is clearly an explanitory phrase meant to indicate the importance of the main restriction of the amendment. It isn't a phrase written to be a modifier.

In starting to teach national citizenship issues to 10 to 16 year olds, I always ask why they see this amendment as an important right. In the majority, having been taught to frame all questions with an individual rationalistic interpretation, they say, "Well, some people like to hunt and we should be able to hunt for food, etcetera, etcetera.

I then use the importance-explanitory clause to instill the historical necessity of the right protected by the amendment, thereby stearing them away from both the hunting weapon false utilitarian arguement and rationalistic trapping to their understanding in general.

To restate my point, what the militia was, is or should be, is not important except to explain the worth of an armed citizenry in general and from an historical perspective.

[neverdem]

The 1903 Dick Act, which replaced the old Militia Act of 1792, divided all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 into the organized militia and the reserve militia.

The 1903 Dick Act, which replaced the old Militia Act of 1792, divided all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 into the organized militia, i.e. the reserve components including the National Guard who will eventually draw federal pensions if they qualify, and the reserve unorganized militia, i.e. the rest of us who are fit enough, all other things being equal. I'll let everyone know when I'm too old to fight, NOT!