[ExI] Upon pondering your freedoms

[Damien Broderick]

At 07:55 AM 7/5/2008 -0700, Spike wrote:
>
> > What was meant by that
> > strangely anomalous opening passage "A well regulated
> > militia, being necessary to the security of a free state"? ...
>
>That comment means we can be drafted.

So the Amendment refers to military service (of a 
sort). I had that impression too.

>Anyone
>who owns weapons or has the right to own weapons is automatically part of
>the militia that is necessary to the security.

The security of what, against whom?

The black conservative writer Larry Elder compiles some interesting quotes at

<http://www.creators.com/opinion/larry-elder.html>

Here are some of them. Is he just cherrypicking? 
They look as if the mood of the day meant "the 
security of people against any new tyrants of 
government." Shooting terrorists trying to take 
over the stagecoach or robbers stealing the 
household's bag of gold doesn't seem to have come into it.

===========
<quote>

The Second Amendment reads as follows: "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." What did 
the Framers mean? [[he's left a comma out; does this matter?]]

Is "Militia" ­ as the Framers intended ­ an arm 
of government? Or did the Framers define militia 
as something completely different ­ a group of 
armed citizens with a right to "keep and bear 
Arms" to guard against unjust or tyrannical government power?

The Founding Fathers assumed that any government, 
including the one they established, could grow 
into a monster. They argued that only "the 
people" with a right "to keep and bear arms" could prevent such a tyranny.

James Madison, the "father of the Constitution," 
stated that tyrants were "afraid to trust the 
people with arms," and lauded "the advantage of 
being armed, which Americans possess over the 
people of almost every other nation."

Thomas Jefferson wrote: "What country can 
preserve its liberties if its rulers are not 
warned from time to time that their people 
preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."

George Mason said, "To disarm the people ­ that 
was the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said: "What, sir, 
is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the 
establishment of a standing army, the bane of 
liberty. 
 Whenever governments mean to invade 
the rights and liberties of the people, they 
always attempt to destroy the militia, in order 
to raise an army upon their ruins." [[this seems 
entirely contrary to Spike's interpretation that 
the Amendment *authorized* a standing army and a draft!]]

Noah Webster, the prominent political essayist 
who fought in the Revolutionary War, wrote: 
"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."

Samuel Adams likened the Second Amendment to the 
First: "That the said Constitution shall never be 
construed to authorize Congress to infringe the 
just liberty of the press or the rights of 
conscience; or to prevent the people of the 
United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
...
[[but finally a more general aspect:]]
Thomas Paine, in 1775, spoke about another kind 
of "tyranny." Bans and restrictions on firearms 
affect the law-abiding citizenry, shifting power 
to the non-law-abiding. Criminals ignore laws. 
That's why we call them criminals. Paine said: 
"The peaceable part of mankind will be 
continually overrun by the vile and abandoned 
while they neglect the means of self-defense. 
 
(Weakness) allures the ruffian (but) arms like 
laws discourage and keep the invader and 
plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world. 

 Horrid mischief would ensue were (the good) 
deprived of the use of them. 
 The weak will become a prey to the strong."