Posted on 11/23/2021 9:58:45 AM PST by Kaslin
Before the right to keep and bear arms is stated in the Second Amendment, the Founders wrote why they believed it necessary for people to arm themselves as part of a "militia." They said it is a "necessity to the security of a free state." The Founders knew that liberty is not the natural state of humanity and must be defended against government authorities and lawbreakers who try to limit or abolish it. That is why the Preamble to the Constitution begins: "We the people," not you the government.
Familiar statements followed the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, jury on charges he murdered two men and wounded a third: We need more gun control. Rittenhouse was a vigilante. The mostly white jury's verdict again demonstrates unequal justice for Blacks and whites.
Jurors, who were selected by Rittenhouse in a random draw, included seven women and five men. All but one was white. Rittenhouse and those he shot are white.
It is difficult to precisely identify motives, but one possible cause of Rittenhouse's decision to go to Kenosha may have been what he saw as a necessity to secure a free state.
Consider the rioting, looting, and burning of businesses he likely witnessed on TV. Scenes from Portland, Oregon, and other cities might have motivated him. He likely saw police stand down, possibly out of fear they would be recorded on a cellphone camera and have it twisted into police brutality with the help of the media.
Judge Schroeder delivered what a Chicago Tribune reporter called "a long rant" about media coverage of the trial. The judge specifically referenced a CNN report in which two legal analysts questioned his rulings. One was a comment by CNN's Areva Martin, a civil rights lawyer, who said Schroeder's decision to prohibit the use of the word "victims" was "incomprehensible." The other target of Schroeder's wrath was Jeffrey Toobin. He called the judge's ruling allowing the defense to present evidence suggesting the men Rittenhouse shot participated in rioting, looting or arson, a "really unnecessary and unfortunate beginning to this really important case."
Schroeder also criticized media accounts referencing how he had been reversed in a murder trial that resulted in a life sentence. While Schroeder acknowledged he was reversed in 2008, he claimed vindication when a higher court reversed the lower court decision. "I was right," he said.
Back to the idea of a militia, a subject that has been and continues to be debated among legal scholars. The Second Amendment presumes that individuals are the first line of defense against government tyranny and lawlessness. The police can't be everywhere and during recent riots in major cities, they were sometimes nowhere. Videos of looters in San Francisco and other cities where district attorneys seemingly refuse to prosecute cases involving thefts of items priced under a certain amount, plus the release of criminals, some of whom go on to commit new crimes, suggest the lawless are increasingly calling "the shots." Police officers have resigned, retired early, or pulled back from doing their jobs because of the way they have been treated and prematurely judged.
If confronted by someone seeking to loot, destroy your business, or kill you, would you see your armed self as the best defense, or would you call 911, hoping the police will show up in time, if at all? Or would you be glad that a Kyle Rittenhouse is patrolling your streets like a neighborhood watchman, doing the job the police are unable, or reluctant to do?
Professional law enforcement officers could have been called into Kenosha.
The kid with an over-sized gun getting chased was a farce.
Minnesota and Wisconsin used to have reputations for good government.
General George Washington defended the militia in public, but in correspondence with Congress expressed his opinion of the militia quite to the contrary:
To place any dependence on the Militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender Scenes of domestic life; unaccustomed to the din of Arms; totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill, which being followed by a want of confidence in themselves, when opposed to Troops regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, superior in knowledge and superior in Arms, makes them timid, and ready to fly from their own shadows ... if I was called upon to declare upon Oath, whether the Militia have been most serviceable or hurtful upon the whole, I should subscribe to the latter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(United_States)
Kind of like a clean turd
Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps, I could not surrender if I would.
John Adams, Boston Gazette, 9/5/1763
This Washington quote pertains to his comparison of militia called into service vs. soldiers the Continental Line, when facing British Regulars. Militia he references were basically a local citizen defense force acting as needed to defend themselves and their communities. They also were mustered to fight with Washington when near their homes but were deployed according to their limitations. They also fought alone. The British who died at Moore’s Creek Bridge and Kings Mountain, et al, would take issue that local Colonial militias were ineffective.
Legally, according to the US government, it seems that Rittenhouse is Hispanic not White.
His life was threatened, he could have been killed, attempts were made on his life, and he responded only to protect himself.
And then the people who asked him and his friends to put their lives on the line denied knowing them.
Not really.
It was his town, where he worked, where his dad lived, his friends lived and his grandparents lived.
I can understand why you would want to protect those things.
But apparently it is difficult for Mr Thomas.
Kid was far more of man then you could ever dream of being and the gun was the proper size as you would know if you actually had even been near a gun rather then hiding under your bed with your binky waiting for your mom to come and nurse you.
re: loot, destroy my business, or kill me?
my appraisal of self-preservation looms at 120%.
therefore, should i find myself in that scenario, and i admit my chances slight, i will not be the only one lying on the floor!
Can’t blame him for trying to get some mileage out of Kyle, but does NeverTrumper Cal know where the Democrats stand on gun control?
Or appetizing vomit.
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.