Second Amendment Basics
Let’s clear something up: The Second Amendment is not about having firearms for hunting, nor for self-defense – though these are both legitimate uses of our right to keep and bear arms.
When the founders adopted the Bill of Rights, they had just been through a long struggle against what had been their recognized government. King George and the British Parliament began with unpopular taxes. They continued with the dismantling of the colonies’ self-rule. Eventually this tyrannical government in a far-off capitol marched its armies on Lexington and Concord to confiscate the American stores of powder, shot, and weapons.
The intent was clear. Removing the means to resist tyranny or aggression renders a man or a nation subject to the will of whatever tyrant or criminal possesses superior force. The right of freemen to keep and bear arms is inherent and inviolable, because if this right is suppressed the man is no longer free.
The founders sought to avoid a repetition in our time of the tyrant’s attempt to enslave the continent by enacting the Second Amendment, which reads:
“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 amendment contains two clauses: The first deals with the accepted truth that a citizens’ militia is the best bulwark against a despot turning the military power against his own people. The second clause provides the only certain way that the first can be ensured – the people must not be restricted from owning and carrying firearms.
The meaning of the phrase “shall not be infringed” is abundantly clear. The founders intended that no law should ever be passed that would restrict the People of the United States of America from owning, carrying, and using arms.
This is especially true of military small arms. In many cases, the colonists possessed weapons superior to the British infantry, and were generally more adept in their use. The long rifle is the best example of this. It is a near certainty that if the colonists didn’t have access to some of the best weapons of their time, our nation would never have been born.
The truth is that every federal law on the books that deals with small arms (the kind a man can bear) is absolutely, positively, unconstitutional. Congress is barred by the Second Amendment from dealing with firearms.
From the National Firearms Act of 1934 to the 1968 Gun Control Act, to the Brady Bill, these laws are an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms. They must all be repealed.
