Why?
A Commentary on the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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.

The second amendment to the Constitution of these United States; a simple one sentence paragraph that has been stepped on and trampled upon so much these last fifty years that its true meaning is almost lost in the scuff-marks. Why did our founding fathers include this portion in the Bill of Rights and why is it still important today?

Our founding fathers had just fought their way out from under the repressive government of the British Crown and they knew well the ways that such a government would use to keep the people in line and keep them helpless dependents of the ruling regime.

“…to disarm the people – that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
George Mason

Therefore our founding fathers determined that the best defense against tyrants and despots in all their forms was to keep a well-armed militia ready at a “minute’s” notice to quell such attacks upon the people and their liberties.

“Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.” Thomas Paine

Now there are those persons who will tell you that the Second Amendment was not intended for the people or as the independent right of individual citizens. They say it was meant to allow the States to form their own small local armies, in our current time referred to as the National Guard. But if this were so than all other liberties listed in the Bill of Rights would apply to only the rights of the States and not to an individual citizen for most of them also declare themselves as the “Right of the People.” Just what did our founding fathers mean when they said “militia” and did they mean for the right to keep and bear arms to be an individual right of an independent citizen.

“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people.”
George Mason

“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms…To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms…” Richard Henry Lee

“…The said Constitution be never construed…to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
Samuel Adams

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
Thomas Jefferson

“The right of the people to keep and bear…arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country…”
James Madison

When our founding fathers penned these words, the primary firearm used by the people was a muzzle-loading flintlock musket. This rifle was used to both defend “home and hearth” and put food on the table. These were the top of the line in military and law enforcement weaponry. Today our soldiers in our modern Armed Forces are issued the Colt M-16 A1A2, an auto-loading rifle capable of single-round firing or three-shot burst. They generally are issued seven 30-round magazines to carry on or about their person. They may also be issued a Beretta M-9 Auto-pistol with about five 15-round magazines for this weapon. And our common street cop is not that the far behind in his/her choices of modern weaponry. Now any law that prohibits the regular law-abiding citizen from being equally armed or supplied with ammunition is in violation of the Second Amendment and therefore un-constitutional. Yes, you read me right. Any law, ordinance, or regulation that keeps the average American citizen less well armed than the common infantry soldier or law enforcement agent is an infringement on our right to keep and bear arms.

Yes, the assault (“ugly”) weapons ban, the maximum magazine capacity limit, and any and all laws requiring licenses or other forms of permission from the government to own, keep, maintain, or fire such weapons infringe on our rights. Laws that require certain behaviors of owners of arms in their own home infringe on our rights. Laws that outlaw certain modern efficient weapons while allowing the possession of certain antique inferior weapons infringe on our rights.

Some will say I’m a little radical (do I really think people should own machine guns; Surprise, they already do). But I intend mostly to show how far we have capitulated to anti-gunners and citizen-disarmers in how we now beg for crumbs when it comes to our right to keep and bear arms. Our founding fathers feared a day would come when we would trade our liberties for a little security.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin

And they knew there would be those who would use the argument of crime-control to try to force gun-control upon us.

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater…confidence than an armed man.”
Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria (1764)

But we must hang together in this cause, united we will prevail, or most suredly “we will hang separately.”

Peter W. Wickham, Jr. [email protected]
AKA The Ol’ Grey Ghost