Second Amendment and the Militia

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says:

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.

Many anti-gun proponents like to say the purpose of the Second Amendment is to say that the absolute right to guns is to be only for the military or militia. What they forget is two things. First, those who drafted the Bill of Rights would not have intended to secure the right to keep firearms only to those in the military – i.e. people carrying out the government’s violent intentions. That would’ve nullified any gains in liberty secured by the shedding of blood during the American Revolution in a heartbeat. Plain and simple the drafters of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights intended the People to be as free as can possibly be with a government still existing.

Second, there’s this segment from the United States Code:

  1. The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
  2. The classes of the militia are—
    1. the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
    2. the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

This would be 10 USC § 311 2461The statute was moved from § 311 to § 246 with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.. Title 10 of the United States Code lays out the laws and some regulations regarding the Armed Forces of the United States, of which the organized and unorganized militia is a part. If the military should fail to defend this country, that responsibility falls on the People.

In other words, one cannot rely purely on the government for the protection of their rights and the rights of their friends and family. Instead you must be ready, willing and able to stand up in defense of your own rights should the time come in which you must. That is the essence of the Second Amendment – one can never rely on the government to defend their rights.

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