"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.”
United States Constitution Bill of Rights Second Amendment
Could have been written by the Founding Fathers:
Necessary to the security of a free State, the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Or even better for indicating an individual's right to bear arms:
Necessary to the security of a citizen's freedom, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The United States was founded on the contemporaneously radical concept that the power of government must be derived from the people--that legitimate governmental power can only exist by the consent of the governed. Thus, the Preamble to the Constitution, the document defining our government, begins "We the People..." Abraham Lincoln would famously reassert this foundational concept by his declaration, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people..."
However, the founding fathers had grave concerns about the potential anarchy in a society in which the common people were the source of power. They understood that strong institutions and rule of law were necessary to provide checks and balances upon the people as well as their established government. Their concerns play out in contemporaneous terrible reality. In Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other countries including the United States, unregulated militias create havoc and commit murder regularly. Certainly, the unregulated militias do not "insure domestic tranquility" nor provide for "security of a free State.” The anarchy produced by unregulated militias starkly elucidate the apprehensions while helping to define the intentions of the writers of our Constitution when they wrote the 2nd Amendment, in which the right to bear arms is contingent upon a citizen being a member of a "well regulated Militia." In fact, if the intention of the founding fathers was to allow the right of all citizens to keep arms, then there would have been no need for the introductory clause. The amendment without the paramount leading crucial phrase would have then read, “Being necessary for the security of a free State, the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Indeed, the right of a citizen to bear arms is painted in the broad context that freedom is not absolute within a free society but implicitly requires responsible behavior towards one's fellow citizens.Therefore, in this context, we believe that Second Amendment arguments of the gun lobby are specious. Hence, we confidently promote the notion that gun control is appropriate and constitutional, as well as, the intent of the writers of the constitution.
written by cjstegman
" " Tell the TRUTH or TRUMP--but get the trick! "
Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar (Mark Twain)
The point...win at any cost...even by sacrificing the TRUTH!