Second Amendment

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights.  The Second Amendment reads…….

• “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.”

According to College of William and Mary law professor and future U.S. District Court judge St. George Tucker in 1803, in his great work Blackstone’s Commentaries, with notes of reference to the Constitution and Laws of the Federal Government of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, referred the Second Amendment as the “true palladium of liberty.”  In addition to checking federal power, the Second Amendment also provided state governments with what Luther Martin in 1826 described as the “last coup de grace” that would enable the states “to thwart and oppose the general government”.  Last it enshrined the ancient Florentine and Roman constitutional principle of civil and military virtue by making every citizen a soldier and every soldier a citizen.

Supreme Court Interpretations

In its first hearing on the subject, in Presser v. Illinois in 1886, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment prevented the states from “prohibiting the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resources for maintaining the public security.”

Four decades later, in United States v. Schwimmer (1929), the Supreme Court cited the Second Amendment as enshrining that the duty of individuals “to defend our government against all enemies whenever necessity arises is a fundamental principle of the Constitution” and holding that “the common defense was on of the purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution.

In 2008 the Supreme Court examined the Second Amendment in exacting detail.  In a 5-4 majority, delivered by Antonin Scalia, the Court held that self-defense was the “central component” of the amendment.

The Supreme Court also affirmed rulings that the Second Amendment ensured the right of individuals to take part in the defending of their liberties by taking up arms in an organized militia.

It was noted at the Constitutional Convention that drafted the new U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787, the right to “keep and bear Arms” was thus included as a means to accomplish the objective of a “well-regulated Militia”, to provide for the defense of the nation, to provide a well-trained and disciplined force to check federal tyranny and to bring constitutional balance by distributing the power of the sword equally among the people, the states and the federal government.

Conclusion

It would be helpful when new gun laws or restrictions are being addressed, that the individual looking to make a change, has a working knowledge about guns.  Unlike our President in his remarks about banning guns that hold 100 rounds in the chamber, or that an AR can blow your lungs clean out of your body.

Firearm technology is always changing. From the days of single shot muzzle loaders to the AR platforms of today.  The Second Amendment allowed for this in bringing constitutional balance by distributing the POWER OF THE SWORD EQUALLY AMOUNG THE PEOPLE, THE STATES AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.  In short, We the People can possess as close as possible, the same type of firearm that our federal government has, to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government.  Not to mention a foreign invasion.

So, when some Politian goes on national TV and tells you that none of your Rights are absolute, they are full of crap!!!  No individual, or government gave us our rights, our rights are based on foundational principles and the Bill of Rights enshrines our rights that we already have as part of the unalienable rights given by “the laws of Nature and of Natures God”, therefore, cannot be taken away by ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GOVERNMENT.  When they tell you your rights are not absolute its only to benefit them, their ambitions or their policies.

We ALL must stand up for our Rights!!!

Be safe out there.