Bill of Rights: The Right to bear arms; 2nd Ammendment; Exactly what does this mean?

Question

Here's the original Amendment II from the Bill of rights; keep in mind it was ratified in 1791:

"Amendment II
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."

I do not know what this means. I am going to ask a few ridiculous sounding questions to get people to think. I'm not pretending to know; times are different, I am not clear what the founding fathers imagined.

Do we have a "tightly controlled" militia? What is a militia?

Why did they use a comma after the word 'State'. It seems like two different unrelated sentences. 1) tightly controlled militia 2) the right to keep and bear Arms. Was punctuation (commas) used differently in 1791? Are these supposed to be related ideas; how?

Does the right to bear arms guarantee every citizen the right to walk down 5th avenue in Manhattan with a rocket launcher or machine gun? "regulated"?

http://www.archives.gov/national-archiv

Answer 1

The idea was that the best way to provide a strong enough military was with a small, elite standing army and a lot of locally raised units of weekend warriors. That's what they meant by "Militia." "Well regulated" meant that the State's would see to standardization of gear, make sure everybody was on the same page and oversee readiness.

Gramatically, the comma is used correctly. It's one sentence in two parts. "Because we need troops, we shouldn't prevent people from having the weapons they need to serve as troops."

That way, there would always be sufficient forces to protect the country, with troops in place wherever trouble arose, but without the expense of maintaining a large standing army or the risk that the standing army would take over.

By the same token, the standing army could act as shock troops, or as peacekeepers in conflicts between the States, or to tip the balance in such conflicts without ever being strong enough to overwhelm the States.

And no. The courts have always upheld the idea that certain weapons could be reserved for military use only.

That point was kind of moot until the First World War. Before that, private citizens and law enforcement agencies, like the Texas and Arizona Rangers usually had more advanced personal weapons than the military. Cannon were pretty rare due to the expense and lack of portability.

Answer 2

Its difficult to apply the "militia" concept to modern times, the U.S. has not had the need for a militia for a long time. Is a militia any citizen with a gun? Hardly, there should be some form of organization

However most courts seem to focus on the lines "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed". in this line, the word militia is not used.

Perhaps the most important phrase in the amendment is "being necessary to the secuity of a free state". Wouldn't this imply, that the purpose of having the people (or militia) keep arms is to safeguard the nation and provide security?

What if the right of the people to keep arms interferes with the stated goal of "security of a free state"? Wouldn't then the amendment be self-defeating? Which should bring us back to regulation, we can see that the amendment supported regulation for the militia, however it doesn't allow for infringement of the "people"'s right to keep and bear arms.

You could go in circles forever. I don't think we should rely on the words of the constitution to solve every issue we may have. We would be better served relying on our own common sense and logic. Lets not forget, at the time the constitution was written, guns couldn't hold 15 shots, be reloaded in 10 seconds, and shoot over a mile. To put it in context, what do you think the founding fathers would do in response to a school shooting? Impossible to know, but interesting to think about.

Answer 3

At that time, there was a credible threat from England that the people here might be attacked in their homes. Of course, keep in mind that the founding father's, NEVER imagined that we'd have automatic or semi-automatic guns. Or that anyone would be able to fire off two rounds within seconds of each other.

In terms used in geography, the word 'State' also means 'Nation'. I know this is going to hit some people in the wrong way, but it is important that we read the Declaration and Bill of Rights in the way that it was ACTUALLY written.

You find this word also used when speaking about the Church and State being separate. What that actually means, since we had just cut our self from England; is that the "Nation" did not have the right to control or regulate the Church. This Countries government concerning doctrines, membership, or anything else concerning the church.

Haven't you ever heard of The Church of England? At that time the government controlled the Nation's Church and that is why people came to America. This is also why churches and religious organizations are tax-free, IF they were the government could them. Like the other things our taxes are collected for and go toward.

As for the word 'Militia', that was what they called the "Military".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia#United_States

Answer 4

To understand the 2nd amendment you have to read more. the framers of the constitution and the bill of rights wrote numerous articles on the 2nd amendment. To bad some of the people who answered this question did not read them. The US was never suppose to have a standing army. This means that the defense of this country lies on the burden of every man. Towns and states had organized into militia during and even after the revolutionary war. The framers wanted the government to be scared of its armed people, not the other way around. A tyranny has a lot to fear from armed citizens.

Answer 5

It helps to have a better knowledge of English.
Well regulated means "in good working order", "prepared", supplied.
Militia is a group of citizens banding together for a common defense of their neighborhood, town or state.
The law is plainly meant to protect the citizens' right to own and carry the "arms" of the day.
A rocket launcher is not "arms" but a form of artillery and/or explosive.
Arms are pistols, rifles, carbines or whatever a soldier would typically "carry".
Barely trained govt employees carry machine guns, why not a well regulated citizen?

The best current example of a militia was in New Orleans after Katrina. With the complete breakdown of government and the abandonment of the citizens, people had to and did band together for their common defense. And, it worked, just like it should have. Of course, Nagan couldn't have the citizens protecting themsleves so he sent in the cavalry to disarm, not protect, the people he swore to serve. Some old dead white guys predicted it quite well.

Answer 6

The Second Amendment affirms the individual right to keep and bear arms. It is the second amendment among ten amendments concerning individual rights, commonly referred to en masse as “The Bill of Rights”. The phrase “the people” in it means the same thing as “the people” means in the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments: individual citizens. In fact, the Tenth Amendment distinctly references the federal, collective, and individual entities as “the United States”, “the states”, and “the people”.

No right guarantees to the individual unreasonable exercise of it. Free speech is a right, but it isn't unfettered. You may not engage in slander, libel, or assault (verbal threats of violence), or incitement to violence without sanctions. Similarly, you have other rights AND they can be regulated without infringing on them unethically.

Answer 7

Regardless of what the NRA would have you believe about the individual U.S. citizen right to bear arms, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the intent of the framers of the Bill of Rights (U.S. Constitution) was that the Gov. would not interfere in the states right to have a well regulated (controlled) militia (National guard).

Answer 8

A militia was a standing army of civilians. The right to bear arms is tied to the rediness of the militia and to the protection of life and property!

Answer 9

it is pretty self explanatory....

american citizens have the right to have guns...notice i said american citizens....if you have been convicted of a crime..you are no longer eligable to vote...and you have proved you can't handle weapons....

"All able bodied men, 17 to 45 of age, are ultimately eligible to be called up into military service and belong to the class known as the Reserve Militia, also known as the unorganized militia."

i know that there are enough private citizens in this country who "bear arms"...no other country could even begin an invasion....and no one can knock on your door and demand your weapons...too many unregistered....

i keep guns in my house...and will...as is my right...

it is an old saying...but true today...

"when you outlaw guns...only outlaws will have guns"...the authorities can regulate guns...but they cannot regulate bad people who have guns...we tend to blame an inanimate object for something which a human being is responsible for...

it is not the gun that kills, but the person who pulls the trigger...without that...a gun is just a hunk of metal....so why not place blame where it belongs? and stop trying to take guns from law abiding citizens?

punish the guilty....period...and stop trying to interpret the constitution in a way that takes my rights from me...

Answer 10

You don't know what it means? It means whatever the Supreme Court says it means. The Constitution wasn't written for peasants to read or understand. All that clear language was just a smokescreen, to mask the cavalier way the Founders thought of things. Ask the Supreme Court, and bring a clever lawyer.
Four justices will say it means what it says; four will say it means the opposite of what it says; and one will be confused, and start mumbling about precedents -- which are muddy at best.

You should NEVER read the Constitution! It'll just make you furious at the criminals who ignore it every stinking day. Hint: the worst ones are in D.C. Except right now, they're in Iowa.