Posted on 10/27/2011 6:58:16 AM PDT by marktwain
Well reasoned, well researched and generally excellent. Wasted, of course, on those who wish to see us disarmed, helpless and enslaved. They can be persuaded only by the last argument of kings.
I disagree. A militia is merely a group of individuals acting in concert against a common threat.
Who were "the people" for whom this right was protected? If you get that answer correct, then you're on your way to properly interpreting the second amendment.
Sniff, sniff...
Robert Paulson, that you?
"misterwhite" since 2011-10-17
152. See Bliss v. Commonwealth, 12 Ky. (2 Litt.) 90 (1822).
If, therefore, the act in question imposes any restraint on the right, immaterial what appellation may be given to the act, whether it be an act regulating the manner of bearing arms or any other, the consequence, in reference to the constitution, is precisely the same, and its collision with that instrument equally obvious.
This is from The Second Amendment in the Nineteenth Century by David Kopel
http://davekopel.org/2a/LawRev/19thcentury.htm#N_153_
If you don't have a right to own tanks and aircraft, armies and navies even, then you can't delegate that right to the government.
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
If that were the case, how would someone execute a Letter of Marque and Reprisal?
They wouldn’t.
They would need the equivalent of what in today’s world would be a battleship.
How do the people of a nation receive this right?
True enough. Did the Founders consider the Second Amendment to protect one's right to own a battleship? I've no opinion one way or the other... I think a review of the correspondence of the day might shed some light on the issue, however.
How did ya like that Kelo decision?
Shoo, troll.
It was not the standard at the time of the founding. There was privately owned artillery, war ships etc. etc. The 2nd amendment means exactly what it says.
We can own tanks and aircraft. We can’t own armies and navies as those are made up of people and slavery is abolished per the 13th amendment. Though I’m not sure what owning people has to do with your point...whatever that might be.
At least one person has written that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
To defend ourselves.
I would imagine so. A2 specifies “arms”, not “arms portable by an individual”.
Privately-owned cannon were not uncommon in that era.
A militia is merely a group of individuals acting in concert to protect the country against a common threat. And, according to the constitution, the militia was to be led by officers appointed by the state.
If they're leaderless and acting in concert for individual gain, that's nothing more than an armed mob.
How are the inalienable rights other than those 3 listed, determined?
Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American ... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe, 1788.
Isn’t it ‘...necessary to the security of a free State...’?
“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.”
That means we have to define ‘State’ and ‘infringed’, doesn’t it?
How do I "like" it? I don't understand.
Oh, wait a minute. I get it. You think unpopular Supreme Court decisions are wrong and the decisions you agree with are correct.
Well. That's certainly an interesting interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Juvenile, but interesting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.