Replies

Thanks for the research. I guess the point has to be proven because judges have lost their history and common sense on this issue.

At the time of the Constitution, the militia was all able bodied men. Think Lexington and Concord. There was no police force in most of the country, no National Guard and a tiny standing army. Without a personal right to own arms, there would have been no militia.

The collectivist argument is really stupid. The other provisions of the Bill of Rights all deal with personal rights. No amendment of the Constitution would be needed to authorize any state militia to be armed; just as no provision of the Constitution was needed to authorize the arming of the Army and Navy.

But then we're dealing with the federal courts who find rights where the Constitution is silent and disregard plain language where the Constitution is explicit because they view the Constitution as a "living" document; translation, it means what we say it means, not what it says.

(1) With respect, actually there were NO police forces anywere in the world in the founders' era. Police forces as we understand them today only began to evolve in the mid-1800's, as thousands of people began leaving rural areas for the cities during the Industrial Revolution. However, as long as there have been human beings on the planet, the defense of a community was the responsibility of all able-bodied people — usually the men, but not always. Gradually, as peole gathered in towns and cities, groups of people were organized into what evolved into militias, which date at least to the late Roman period. The notion that individuals should not be armed for their self-defense and other legitimate purposes is a very, very recent phenomenon human history.

(2) If judges have lost their history and common sense, we the people can re-learn our history and retain our own common sense. We must re-learn the fact that their power comes from us, and act accordingly rather than just sit passively and watch the parade of civic affairs pass us by.