Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is the Second Amendment for Just the Militia?
American Thinker.com ^ | April 5, 2018 | William Sullivan

Posted on 04/05/2018 6:12:42 PM PDT by Kaslin

Let's begin with the simplest of observations.  Our United States Constitution serves two distinct purposes. 

The first is to explicitly enumerate the powers and procedures of our nation's central government, which was defined as the three distinct bodies (which, by the way, two thirds of the high school students currently lecturing us about the Second Amendment cannot name) – the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial, with levels of authority descending in that precise order.

The second is to explicitly enumerate the limitations of that central government's power, which is the sole reason why our Bill of Rights exists.  The Constitution would not have been ratified in 1791 without the addition of these first ten amendments.  Therefore, our Constitution would not exist without the limitations to our central government's authority described therein.

Some miss this simplest of understandings. 

Take Brett Arends, who, in 2016 after the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, committed to a different argument at Market Watch.  He argues that the Second Amendment does not describe a "limitation" of the federal government's authority, as is commonly understood of each of the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights.  Rather:

The Second Amendment is an instrument of government. It's not about hunting or gun collecting or carrying your pistol into a saloon. The Founding Fathers left it up to us to pass sensible laws about all these things. The Constitution is about government.

His argument as to the veracity of this statement is among the more laughable things you'll ever read. He cites Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 29, cherry-picking choice phrases from the essay, filling in the gaps with his own thoughts. For example, Arend writes:

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; billofrights; brettarends; browardcounty; florida; nra; parkland; scottisrael; secondamendment
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-94 next last

1 posted on 04/05/2018 6:12:42 PM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Right of the People


2 posted on 04/05/2018 6:13:46 PM PDT by onedoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
George Mason


3 posted on 04/05/2018 6:16:00 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I just posted this on another thread, but it is just as relevant here.

The Unabridged Second Amendment http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2967854/posts


4 posted on 04/05/2018 6:17:23 PM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Heller Decision ruled that there is an INDIVIDUAL right to own firearms under the Second Amendment. The militia clause died as an excuse to disarm individuals with the Heller Decision.


5 posted on 04/05/2018 6:17:59 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (What profits a man if he gains the world yet loses his soul?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We’ve been down this road ad-nauseum. A state where only the police/military have guns is by definition a police state. I don’t think the founders had that in mind.


6 posted on 04/05/2018 6:19:03 PM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
I have been hearing this garbage for nearly 60 years. Why can't we get this settled once and for all time?

Oh! Excuse me! We keep breeding these idiots and then let them have a voice even though their utterances are nonsensical.

7 posted on 04/05/2018 6:19:23 PM PDT by Parmy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

No. Now stop writing stupid headlines.


8 posted on 04/05/2018 6:22:08 PM PDT by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We are the militia.


9 posted on 04/05/2018 6:23:59 PM PDT by ripnbang ("An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man, a subject.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We The People are the militia.


10 posted on 04/05/2018 6:24:21 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Constitution has two parts:

Part 1: The powers granted to the Federal government by the sovereign entities (the States and the People). This is the portion the Fed Gov MUST do.

Part 2: The Bill of Rights is the opposite. It is a statement of rights the Fed Gov may not touch. This is the portion over which the Fed Gov has no authority. Did we miss something? Read the 9th and 10th... anything we didn’t mention still belongs to us.


11 posted on 04/05/2018 6:24:22 PM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

As I noted on another thread, Oregon’s gov’s insistence that she would refuse to send the Guard to the border would result in the Oregon Guard being federalized. Progs claim the Guard is the Militia. That is not possible if the Guard can be made an arm of the federal govt’s armed force. No. The Militia is the People.


12 posted on 04/05/2018 6:25:01 PM PDT by xkaydet65
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

a) We are the militia

b) The Second Amendment does not grant any rights. It merely guarantees that government will not infringe those rights.


13 posted on 04/05/2018 6:25:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It preserves Freedom.


14 posted on 04/05/2018 6:30:13 PM PDT by EnglishOnly (Fight all out to win OR get out now. .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The 2nd Amendment directly defines the militia as “the people.” Back in the day, when the army needed help, it would send out a call for citizen volunteers and the volunteers would bring their arms. The army would provide the powder and shot, volunteers would be separate as the militia under the command of the general — Jackson, for example.


15 posted on 04/05/2018 6:31:03 PM PDT by odawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

The Bill of Rights is antecedent to the Constitution.


16 posted on 04/05/2018 6:31:39 PM PDT by MGG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Our Founders had been fighting for freedom for nearly 700 years when they wrote the Bill of Rights. The 1215 Magna Carta was written from violations of the 1100 Charter of Liberties. Regarding the Second Amendment, it was about killing politicians when they became tyrants, their standing armies and their supporters.


17 posted on 04/05/2018 6:31:41 PM PDT by DocRock (And now is the time to fight! Peter Muhlenberg)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MGG

Your rights are God-given FRiend. Everything is antecedent to that.


18 posted on 04/05/2018 6:34:16 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

bump


19 posted on 04/05/2018 6:34:30 PM PDT by foreverfree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Each citizen is the militia. Case closed.


20 posted on 04/05/2018 6:45:26 PM PDT by MGunny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-94 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson