The Second Amendment to the US Constitution states, "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 fact that the right to bear arms is listed second shows it's importance to the founders of our country.  It's brevity shows that our founders did not want the Second Amendment to be open to interpretation and thought that its intent was obvious to all.

At least 11, of my many great grandfathers fought in the War for American Independence.  At least 2 more, who were Quakers, donated sizable amounts of money to the US militias.  At least 1, of my many great grandfathers did regrettably fight for our British oppressors. They were not soldiers by trade, except in one instance. They were brave men, who stepped up and did what was best for their families.

The word that people, who are against our Second Amendment rights like to interpret, to twist our founders' meaning is "militia". They like to pretend "militia", means an official military branch of the government. "Militia" refers to the citizens of the US, who did and who will again, if necessary, join together to fight a tyrannical government.

For the free citizens of the US to be able to join together and remove a tyrannical government, in any age, they need to possess military grade weapons of the time.

Freedom is not free. There will always be sick and evil individuals who will harm others, with whatever they can. Taking the rights away from lawful gun owners, will not stop those sick and evil individuals. Fortunately, by in large, most people are good and there are brave individuals in our police forces and military, who along with legally armed US Citizens, will limit the damage done by criminals.

Keith

Very well stated!

Keith x2

You omitted the phrase "well regulated". Well regulated referred to citizens voting for commanders, officers, and sgts. It was never intended to mean regulated by the government. Like "militia" something twisted up by lawyers. BTW the constitution was not written just for lawyers. It was written so common people would understand their duty and their rights as free people.

Nearly everyone on this forum will agree with your comments.However there are many that fail to even think in logical terms about reality . Or in fact think at all .They go along with what is feed to them and do not want to even know the other side of the situation .What the Founding Fathers of America did was considered treason in those days .And there where many serious disagreements amongst themselves about what they where trying to accomplish . Freedom of speech only exists for as long as the second amendment also exists. How can we have gone so far in the wrong direction the last 200 plus years to no longer see that

One reason, the public schools don't teach civics and government anymore. They are not taught about the constitution and the freedoms it provides.

Another reason, most people are lazy and want everything handed to them, no matter the cost to anyone else.

I'm glad the school my sons attended did a much better job of educating the students than the one you speak of. Have you actually seen the curriculum of the school?

Well said Keith. Most don’t understand what our founders meant, and the ones that do understand manipulate what they said to meet there political goals.

I think there where 17 amendments proposed. 12 were sent to the states to be ratified. What we ended up with was pure genius

Actual curriculum, no, But, have had many discussions with kids fresh out of high school who have no clue about the constitution, bill of rights, etc that made our country what it was. And these weren't the dropouts or slackers, these are the ones that went on to college and got degrees there.

When members of Congress don't even know how many branches of govt there is, we are in trouble

Understanding the intent of the words in our Constitution requires a study of the larger conversations of the time. When dealing with original wording (as opposed to amendments that came much later) the Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers are the typical starting point. It is interesting to me that the need for an armed populace is recognized by both The FP's and A-FP's as a check on the power of the federal government and a guard against tyranny. Whereas the FP's support an armed populace in the form of militias that can be called up by the federal gov't the A-FP's are concerned by the idea of the militias being under federal control. Both recognize the need for an armed populace capable of defending individual rights against the military capabilities of a tyrannical gov't.

K snow, you should contact your local school board members and have them look into the matter. If the constitution is not being cover, I would think it would be easy to drum up support for a change in things.

Excellent Keith

Come into my classroom which is Social Sciences any time. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendments, and yes the 2nd Amendment are taught and discussed regularly. I will say conservative Teachers are an exception. I teach my grandchildren who go to schools in Minneapolis suburbs the history of our country, rights and laws.

In rural districts, I would say that liberal teachers are the exception. I know many, and most are either conservative or moderate with conservative leanings.

Look at numbers of pupils, rural to urban. Urban schools are full of lib teachers, (sub)consciously pushing their agendas onto their pupils.

If any teacher pushes their own personal ideologies or agendas, and not put both sides to the kids in free open discussion to let the kids decide where they want to land, is no longer a teacher. They are a activist and should be ashamed of themselves for robbing kids of a just education.


Nice post Keith!

I’m all for your guys’ freedoms and amendments but I don’t think you guys could form the militia you imagine fighting against your government.

My grandson had a teacher that is both liberal and supports animal rights. I don't think she liked him much.

Its your job as a parent to instill values in your children. If you do that it wont matter what their teachers opinions are.