Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Second Amendment goes to SCotUS

The Supreme Court has decided to take up the DC Gun Ban case. . . I think and hope that this is a good thing as the Second Amendment is riding on it. This will be the first time in 70 years that they address the 2A.

In a perfect world they would rule that it is an individual right, just like the rest of the Bill of Rights. This is based on a number of things –

1 – The Second Amendment is the only part of the Bill of Rights that anyone has said is not an individual right. The courts have upheld the rest as meaning the individuals when it talks of “The People” . . . i.e . the people are you and me, the citizens of this country

2 – If you study the writings of the founding fathers you can clearly see that there was a great fear of the federal government at the time the Constitution was written. In face a number of states refused to ratify it without the Bill of Rights being added to protect the states and citizens from an oppressive federal government.

3 – The argument that the 2A is referring to the National Guard when it talks about a Militia is way off base since there was no such thing as a National Guard when this was written. The National Guard did not show up until over 100 years later. Lets not forget that the National Guard is also not a Militia since they are armed and funded by the Federal Government. . . . .

4 – The Militia at the time consisted of EVERY able bodied man between the ages of 16 and 40 (I may be a bit off here on the ages but not much).

5 – Regulated – at the time of the writing of the Constitution the phrase well regulated meant well practiced.

So what you get from points 4 and 5 are that everyone who can fight to defend the country is in the Militia (we will add in the women since they fight too these days). And that all these folks in the Militia should be well practiced in the use of the arms they will defend the country with. . . . so that means the 2A protects every individuals right to own arms and to practice with them with the goal being to protect themselves and our country with them.

I just hope the court does it’s job and does not bend to political pressure. . . . it is going to be a scary ride.

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