Posted by
Kyle Singleton on Friday, October 03, 2008 9:54:58 PM
As we know, the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution speaks about gun rights, saying, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." To most people of common sense, that speaks clearly to individuals being able to own guns without restriction. But, some of our friends on the left bring up the "well regulated Militia" clause to justify restricting gun rights. So, what exactly is a militia? The constitution makes several other references to the militia. Article 1, section 8, (the powers of congress) grants congress the power to "provide for calling forth the Militia... 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..." this shows that the militia has something to do with the organized military, but as you will see in section 8, the militia is separated from the army and navy, which congress has more direct control over. Article 2, section 2 grants the president power of commander in chief of the army, navy, and the "militia of the several states, when called into actual service of the United States." So the militia is a state-based organization, like the national guard? Not exactly. "No State shall, without the consent of congress... keep troops (article 1, section 10)." So, the state doesn't have right to run it's own military, outside of congress's approval. And, in fact, the constitution grants no party the authority to regulate the milita. The militia was simply considered to be white men eligible to serve their country in combat. Since then, we have extended equal rights and protection to women and minorities as well, so they are also in the "militia". So who does get to regulate the militia? Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Clearly, the people! The second amendment simply says that adults can own guns, without exception. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.