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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Second Amendment explanation from Misc. Survivalism

To:
"misc_survivalism_moderated"

The first draft of the Second Amendment said, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, a Well regulated (which meant at the time WELL ARMED, NOT WELL CONTROLLED) militia being necessary to the security of a free state. It was changed to make it sound better, not restrict the rights of the people. I always tell people that there are some linguistic differences between the 18th and 20th centuries that when they are taken into consideration makes the intent of the founder very clear. Here is what I mean. At the time of the writing of the Constitution, the phrase "well regulated" meant well armed with the most modern of weapons. The British considered the rifled muskets of the Colonial Army as unfair implements. The Colonists loved them for their long range accuracy in comparison to the smooth bore Brown Bess of the British Army. And since almost all members of the colonial army had to provide their own weapon, the founding fathers wanted them to have the most advanced weapon possible. In the terminology of the time, the "Militia" was considered to be all adult males of sound mind and character (I.e. no felons). And I would hazard a guess that the idea of a "Free State" didn't mean a political body as much as a state of freedom. Remember, they had just fought a bloody 8 yr long war who's outcome was in doubt until the very end against a tyrannical despot. Under that context, an interpretation of the second amendment of " A well armed citizenry, being necessary to the security of the state of freedom, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." is probably spot on to the original intent of the founding fathers. That leaves little to the imagination for some attornies to try and twist. This country went for almost 120 years without more than a handful of gun laws. We now have over 10,000 and crime had risen dramatically (and still remains high in non shall issue states) until the right to carry a concealed weapon was reaffirmed in the 38 states that now have "Shall Issue" legislation on the books. Crime has consistently dropped wherever Shall issue and Castle doctrine laws have passed.

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