This article originally appeared on Courageous Lion Substack and was republished with permission.
How about we take a close look at the 2nd amendment to the Bill of Rights? And not just a cursory look, but rather an honest, critical, deeper look.
“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.”
It does not say “A well regulated Standing Army being necessary to the security of a tyrannical state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall always be infringed.”
Well-regulated means to run smoothly, be disciplined, and be well-supplied. Militia means the body of people consisting of lawful citizens in a free state of existence. Security means to keep safe. Necessary means needed, essential Free state, meaning the collective of states, the whole nation. The right means those essential liberties that all people have regardless of government.
The people, the lawful citizens in a free state of existence, To keep, meaning to own and possess And bear, meaning to carry on or about one’s person either open or concealed.
Arms , meaning weapons Shall not, meaning must not, will not be infringed, meaning restricted, retarded, or suppressed in any way whatsoever.
Therefore, a well-regulated, smooth-running, well-supplied, disciplined Militia is necessary, essential, and needed for the security, and safety of a free state, the whole nation for national security. The right, liberties, of the people, free and lawful citizens, to keep and bear arms, shall not, must not , will not be infringed, restricted suppressed.
Now if you suppress, restrict or infringe upon the rights and liberties of the people to keep, own, and bear arms, open or concealed you are compromising national security. The crime of jeopardizing national security is treason.
Referred to in modern times as an individual’s right to carry and use arms for self-defense, the Second Amendment was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, according to College of William and Mary law professor and future U.S. District Court judge St. George Tucker in 1803 in his great work Blackstone’s Commentaries: With Notes of Reference to the Constitution and Laws of the Federal Government of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as the “true palladium of liberty.”
In addition to checking federal power, the Second Amendment also provided state governments with what Luther Martin (1744/48–1826) described as the “last coup de grace” that would enable the states “to thwart and oppose the general government.”
Last, it enshrined the ancient Florentine and Roman constitutional principles of civil and military virtue by making every citizen a soldier and every soldier a citizen.
This from George Mason the, “Father of the Bill of Rights”: “Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, (Sir William Keith) who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia. [Here Mr. Mason quoted sundry passages to this effect.] Why should we not provide against the danger of having our militia, our real and natural strength, destroyed? The general government ought, at the same time, to have some such power. But we need not give them power to abolish our militia.”
“Mr. Chairman, a worthy member has asked who are the militia, if they be not the people of this country, and if we are not to be protected from the fate of the Germans or Prussians by our representation? I ask, Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table gets no alteration, [Constitution, Bill of Rights] the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor…” -Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 1788
So why in the words of the “Father of the Bill of Rights” do we have a militia and bear arms? • We bear arms to keep from becoming enslaved by the federal government AND • To protect ourselves from the tyranny of OUR REPRESENTATIVES, whose dereliction leads us to suffer the same fate of foreign nations; • Mason makes sure we know WHO the militia is. This is contrary to what most politicians profess.
This from Noah Webster: “Another source of power in government is a military force. But this, to be efficient, must be superior to any force that exists among the people, or which they can command: for otherwise this force would be annihilated, on the first exercise of acts of oppression. Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.
A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.” -‘An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution’, 1787
So why do we bear arms according to Noah Webster? • To prevent rule by a standing army; • To prevent Congress from executing unjust and unconstitutional laws; • To prevent the Federal Government from becoming unjust and oppressive; • The people bearing arms should be SUPERIOR to an army controlled by Congress. (And today the army appears to be controlled by the so called Commander in Chief. When was the last time we had a war declared by Congress? C.L.)