THESE ARE NOT MY PERSONAL COMMENTS---
The 2nd
Amendment---From Corwin and Peltason's Understanding the Constitution (7th
Edition) pg 144
Pg 144 Militia and
the Right to Bear Arms
“”A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security
of a free State (this refers to “”state”” in the generic sense rather to states
of the Union), the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be
infringed.””
There has been no definitive ruling
on the matter, but the weight of opinion of most informed commentators is that
the amendment was designed to prevent Congress from disarming the state
militias, not to prevent it from regulating private ownership of firearms. In
upholding a federal law making criminal the shipment in interstate commerce of
sawed-off shotguns, the Court found no evidence that such weapons had any
reasonable relationship “”to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated
militia.”” The Second Amendment, it held, “”must be interpreted and applied””
with a view to maintaining a militia. “”The Militia which the States were expected
to maintain and train is set in contrast with Troops which they were forbidden
to keep without the consent of Congress. The sentiment of the time strongly
disfavored standing armies; the common view was that adequate defense of
country and laws could be secured through the Militia—civilians primarily,
soldiers on occasion.”” (note 124 from US v Miller 1939)
The Supreme Court has never listed
this amendment as being one of those provisions of the Bill of Rights that
limits the power of the state governments. As Justice Douglas wrote in an
opinion dissenting on another point, “”A powerful lobby dins into the ears of
our citizenry that…gun purchases are constitutional rights protected by the
Second Amendment…There is under our decisions no reason why stiff state laws
governing the purchase and possession of pistols may not be enacted. There is
no reason why a State may not require a purchaser of a pistol to pass a
psychiatric test. There is no reason why all pistols should not be barred to
everyone except the police.”” (note 125 from Adams V. Williams 1972)
AMENDMENT
2
BEARING
ARMS
Amendment 2
""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
protection afforded by this amendment prevents infringement by Congress of the
right to bear arms for a lawful purpose, but does not apply to such
infringement by private citizens. For this reason an indictment under the
Enforcement Act of 1870,[1] charging
a conspiracy to prevent Negroes from bearing arms for lawful purposes was held
defective.[2] A
State statute which forbids bodies of men to associate together as military
organizations, or to drill or parade with arms in cities and towns unless
authorized by law, does not abridge the right of the people to keep and bear
arms.[3] In
the absence of evidence tending to show that possession or use of a shotgun
having a barrel of less than 18 inches in length has some reasonable
relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, the
Court refused to hold invalid a provision in the National Firearms Act[4] against
the transportation of unregistered shotguns in interstate commerce.[5]
MILITIA ACT 1792 http://www.constitution.org/mil/mil_act_1792.htm
MILITIA under control of President (as Commander in Chief) and Congress---NOT to fight government tyranny
ANOTHER great piece on MILITIA, 2nd Amendment and what Founders had in mind
http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/fieldsandhardy.html
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