Those who would not only refrain from exercising their Second Amendment rights but would also try to keep others from exercising it, say that the only people that should own guns are the Police and Military.
Hmm.
Well, the best American response to those people would be in the words of Samuel Adams: “…Go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
I could go on and on about how if we should ban guns because they’re dangerous, then maybe we should ban cars too, but I won’t. I don’t want to put any ideas into their heads.
Shall we see what the Founders warned us concerning those who would have us without arms?
First, let me remind you of the wording of the Supreme Law of the Land: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
I don’t recall, off the top of my head, whose side thinks they benefit from the commas in the Second Amendment, but I can tell you that there are so many commas thrown hither-tither that it looks like they’re just trying to fill in space.
It’s such a little amendment compared to the others.
Anyway, let’s dissect the issue by chopping into three parts:
PART 1: A well regulated Militia.
PART 2: Being necessary to the security of a free State.
PART 3: The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
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Part 1 makes reference to an organization called Militia, and the need for it to be well regulated.
Federalist Papers number 29 indicates that the Militia would be, as the word is defined, comprised of the whole people, within certain age limits, for the defense of the public against all enemies, foreign and domestic, with the distinct role of replacing the national army for the common defense.
"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, during Virginia's ratification convention, 1788.
Also, it is given that the role of training such a group would be given to the respective states according to the discipline prescribed by Congress. It even states in the Federalist Papers that it is unforeseeable what the future Government might do, so it is necessary to set certain unchangeable guidelines for the future, such as the Second Amendment.
But, I guess we don’t care very much about rule of law, huh?
"Another source of [tyrannical] power in government is a military force. But this, to be efficient, must be superior to any force that exists among the people, or which they can command; for otherwise this force would be annihilated, on the first exercise of acts of oppression. Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive."
~Noah Webster
The purpose of the militia was apparently to be a military establishment, comprised of as many men that could hold a firearm, as an all around protector of the people, and to an equal extent, the Constitution.
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