1. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
2. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The 2nd part must be in order for the 1st part to be accomplished.
An armed populace must exist in order for a free state to be KEPT free and secure by its armed populace.
Many act oh-so-embarrassed when gun advocates say that gun ownership is about preserving our free nation from anyone...even our own government. They simply show their ignorance.
Because that's exactly what the 2nd amendment itself says.
"An armed populace must exist in order for a free state to be KEPT free and secure by its armed populace."
Right on!
The other day I was talking on the phone to a relative about the 2nd Amendment and he said we really don't need assault type weapons because they're not for hunting.
I said the 2nd Amendment is not about hunting, it's about the people protecting themselves from a tyranical government and it got him to thinking. I'm going to follow up.
A. "Militia" is not, and was not the equivalent of the National Guard. As I understand it, the militia is a group of volunteer individual civilians organized to defend the populace. The State or National Guard are not volunteers in the same sense. The State and National Guard are part-time, professional soldiers.
B. With regard to the tired argument that the right to bear arms is a right for the State to form a militia, consider that the word “People” is used three other times in the Bill of Rights.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.<\i>
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.<\i>
Amendment X
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.<\i>
The rights described in the Bill of rights are not a right of the States (which would not have been necessary), they are rights if the individuals.
That is the best interpretation of the 2nd Amendment I’ve ever seen - thank you.
Though it’s appalling that we should have to explain this to anybody, we do.