Well, sort of--but not in the way you might be thinking. In this post, they make the claim that the Second Amendment doesn't grant the right to keep and bear arms. As it happens, that's entirely correct--the Second Amendment, like every other amendment in the Bill of Rights, doesn't grant a right--it articulates a guarantee of that fundamental human right (or God-given right, for those who prefer the religious angle).
Sadly, that's about as far as our agreement goes. The rest of the post is spent (misspent, really) arguing that the fact that the amendment contains the phrase "well regulated militia" means that (somehow) "the right of the people" means the "right of [said] militia." Even worse, the Gun Guys have decided to throw their very own language into the Constitution, and stipulate that the militia has to be "government sponsored." Where the hell they got that idea is left unsaid.
As has been said before (by such people as George Mason and Patrick Henry), the people are the militia, and "well regulated" means that they have effective combat weapons, and skill in using them.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Gun Guys and I agree about something!
Stumble it!
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3 comments:
what's so hard to understand about this?
TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 311
§ 311. Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
That's an excellent point (I should have mentioned that). Being a wheelchair bound paraplegic, I'm not too crazy about the "able bodied" requirement, but I imagine I could make an argument for my rights as a militia member under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
I'm sure there's something for ya these days...heck, if you just start playing video games you could man some of those drones. Re-supply maybe.
I'm not 100% sure that hasn't been repealed, but I didn't find anything stating that, so I'm under the impression that it is still in effect...or rather still spelled out for the ignorant.
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