Constitutional Libertarianism

Constitutional Libertarianism

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Second Amendment. When you respect the Constitution, it works.

The problem a lot of people have in these modern times with the second amendment is that they think there is no need for it with a, compared to way back then, ramped up military.

See, if you actually read the U.S. Constitution (as ratified by the member states, keep this in mind, it's important) you'll see Congress has the authority, not the President, to do the following;

Article 1, Section 8;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

You'll notice that Congress is to be able to raise armies and keep them going for up to two years at a time.  This leads us to think that Armies should not already be "standing" waiting to be sent to war.

Also note that Congress is supposed to keep militias armed and trained, ready at the go to be called into service.  Who are the militias?  The average citizen, that's who.

The Constitution says that Congress is to provide for the militias to be armed and trained.  "Provide for" not actually arm them.  Why, because the Second Amendment addresses the issue by stating that citizens are able to own their own weapons to be able to serve in militias when called upon.

In today's world, we have a standing army, which we are not supposed to have.  You may also note that the states reserve the authority to manage the militias, not the federal government.  The federal army only has authority over those militia members as have been called into service of the federal army.

All able bodied people are supposed to be able to be a part of a local militia.  Allowing each person to keep and bear arms of their own makes having militias affordable.

What exactly does the Second Amendment say? 

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.

Now  also keep in mind that "Arms" is not only the weapon, but the ammunition as well. Obviously, the last sentence holds a lot of meaning, "Shall not be infringed."

Don't mess with it, is what it is saying.  Also, do you know what it means to "bear" arms?  It means to carry at the ready.

Do we have a lot of people in this country who have little to no respect for guns and other weapons?  yes, we do.  That accounts for those that have them and those that don't.  Those that have weapons and don't respect them are the ones doing stupid things like using their weapons to commit crimes or showing off recklessly and so on.  The bad apples in the bunch so to speak.

Take into account though how many people who are responsible, respectful gun owners and you will see that the vast majority of gun and other weapons owners are very respectful and responsible. 

They train with their weapon of choice, they have it at the ready for use in situations when someone is threatening theirs and those around them lives and safety.

So next time you want to talk about the Second Amendment and getting rid of guns or other weapons, think about education rather than oppressing and violating the Constitutional rights of millions of people.


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