My thoughts on the Second Amendment.

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.

The military has yet to wipe out the Taliban in Afghanistan so I think we'll do alright if needed.

The Taliban life is war. A Militia made up quickly in the USA will crumble even faster. I doubt a handful would last once the power was out. The militia would crumble mentally in a blink of an eye. None of them would be killers like the Taliban.

It depends Jurassic,if it got bad enough,the military might go against the government like happens in some 3rd world countries.
Recently in Venezuela one side(the people)wanted to overthrow their dictatorial government.It all hinged on which side the military supported.
In the end the military supported the dictator,and the peoples wishes were crushed along with their militia.

Its not our military's fault the Taliban still exists. Turn them loose and see how long muslim extremism lasts.

You got that right!!

The problem is that the Arabic nations didn't/don't abide by the Geneva Convention, (just to make it fair). As we do.

Then we get someone saying that SEAL murdered that Taliban. (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) right he did, just as he was raising that rifle up.

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed- where the government refuses to standoff reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost their courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once. (Judge Alex Kozinski dissenting in Silver v Lockyer, 328 F.3d567 (9th Circuit 2003)

You mean like they didn't do in Vietnam. Making our soldiers fight with both hands tied behind their backs.

The people that oppose the 2nd. could care less about the meaning of the word Militia. It makes no difference to them if Militia means people, cows or monkeys because their focus is on the words A Well Regulated.

That is why the focus on gun control (regulation) and the reason why they are going to win with gun control.

Those of us that oppose gun control need to be more aggressive and proactive instead of reactive.

Just proclaiming that they aren't going to take my guns is not going to get the job done. Get away from the computer screen and do something even if it is wrong.

If people would watch the above video I posted theyd know what well regulated means, it's not to mean laws and Rey.

The reason many who oppose gun control aren't more aggressive is that they have the attitude that gun makers are too powerful, put a lot of money into lobbyists, guns are too big of a business, etc. Losing your guns in the USA will never happen. My answer to them is that they said those same things in Australia.

The dems have a perfect storm brewing and they intend to take full advantage.

The NRA is as weak as they've been in decades and the shootings are coming one after another. The political pressure on the reps is really high to do something and there's not much reason/pressure for them not to.

the nra doesn't oppose gun control. I expect them to start advocating lawmakers to classify semis as class 3 weapons. feds get more money. you either register or become a felon. semis get very expensive after further manufacture is stopped. same thing the nra has done before only with autos. they are NOT your friend.

And your gonna get ya some.

To make autos class 3 they used fear also. Fear of gangs. Gangs distributing alcohol and bank robbers. I cant imagine that there is anybody with enough cognitive function to read who does not see the similarities.

and we're in the same situation now with the mass shootings. The population is calling for lawmakers to do something. The NRA is alot better than they were 80 years ago and are still our best shot at putting pressure on lawmakers on our side.

Interesting take in this video. Not that I agree or disagree.

I agree with everything that Keith C.said, except his statement about public ownership of military style firearms. I believe strongly in the 2nd amendment, "From my cold dead hands".
This is not the time to be playing politics and iy disgusts me. I wish our politicans would abandon their agendas and work together to produce bi-partisan common sense solutions.

Also, I wish everyone would stop picking on Joe Biden. He has great manners, when they were passing out brains he was very polite and took a small one. Dumb as a box of rocks!

If the video player worked on my computer, I would be happy to watch it.
If you think lawyers and politicians cannot manipulate meanings of phrases and words, I hope you are right, but there is a reason they are called "word arrangers".

Well regulated in the language of the time meant well trained or efficient.

Yeah the French Resistance was pretty futile fighting nazis in WWII. People fighting for their OWN freedom? I wouldn’t count them out!

Excellent!
Too bad so many simply look to blame somebody else. Poor parenting is probably the root of most of the problems in the country.

I agree. With both parents working they are too tired and don't have the time to properly run a household and have a job away from home. Results in a lack of concern and discipline as parents.

Parents are not raising their children. The government is. 99% of you have no problem with dropping off your supposed most precious possessions for 13 years of their most formative years and then wonder why this country is screwed up. We removed God clearly out of the schools and yet you continue to send them.......and then justify your actions.

$, opulence and living above your means are main contributing factors to the demise of the country and when you add in the lack of a nuclear family in so many homes the results are what we are seeing.

Baby mommas and baby daddies instead of mothers and fathers doesn't cut it.
Two or three kids, all with different people, is a near sure way to ensure failure.

lots of kids were and are screwed up by religious instruction and end up in prison or mental hospitals. you teach your kids what you believe and I will teach mine.

Like the Lord said-Greed and Money are the root of all evil.
That is why he scattered the evil moneylenders.

Probably one of the most irrational and unfounded posts I've ever read.

If I have to defend myself against the Government and our military I want a weapon as good or better then there's. JMO

Good luck with finding one.

Good post, Danny.

Jim

Angry much?

Nope. Just don't have a problem with freedom of religion. In public government run schools forcing kids to practice a religion is not only immoral its unconstitutional. There are plenty of private schools of any religious belief you choose, to send your kids too.

Well when you put it that way I agree. I do however believe public institutions should not be allowed to deny the free exercise of religion. Prayer before sporting events as an example. Remember it's freedom of religion not freedom from religion.

I digress, this is a discussion on the 2nd, not the 1st. As for the second, 'shall not infringe' is a pretty clear definition whether it be the late 18th century or the early 21st century.

I don't want to see any of my rights infringed. Speech, being armed, religion, press, any of it

Just say no to any farther infringement.

They now have a movie coming out where liberals hunt down and kill Trump supporters who have been kidnapped and taken too at an exclusive resort. The same hollywierd folks want to take my guns away.....No, thanks anyway.

I am pretty sure it gonna get real ugly in the near future.

Lol

Saw that! I'm sure they painted themselves as a bunch of transgendered islamic commies?

You make a movie where some other group (other than conservatives) get hunted down and killed for sport and they will shut it, you and anything involved with it in a heartbeat. But it will be OK to have this 'hunt' movie. That's how bad it has become. We need to stand tall right now and cave these people in.

The lines are drawn.

Can't even post on social media anything conservative without being banned!

I say let them have their way and may the best man win! But that would just leave them confused! Best man win!?

True that. If we forced religion (christianity, hindu, islam, etc) onto folks.. we wouldn't be any better than the countries over seas who do so.



Would praying under Hinduism, Islam, etc. be allowed, or would it be frowned upon? I've noticed those trying to fight for this disregard any other religion but their own. Usually Christians.. as Christianity is what a lot of Americans practice

Sure. Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. If you prayed under Hinduism, Islam, etc. I just wouldn't join in since I'm a Christian. I wouldn't join in any prayer if I was atheist. Like the 1st Amendment says when speaking of religion that no law should 'prohibit the free exercise thereof '.

Yup. I am glad I will be on the winning side.

J Staton, you usually strike me as reasonable (if not right, lol) most of the time, but I wish you would reconsider that last post. The underlying sentiments--which I won't label--are scary.

There is indeed a right to freedom FROM religion. The First Amendment has two clauses, and you've ignored one--the Establishment clause, which says that government shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.

What would you expect them to do to accommodate your religious preferences? I suppose you could tally votes on admission to football games to find out which religion wins, for purpose of the opening prayer. I think NO PRAYER would likely win in many sections of the country.

Since I don't go to football games for a dose of religion, NO PRAYER would be my own vote.

Jim

There's a difference between allowing something and enacting or establishing a law requiring something. We're adults and need to learn to live with each other despite our differences. Of course that isn't allowed because somebody's feelings are going to get hurt or become offended. Maybe it's time everybody puts on their big girl pants and tune out what offends their sensitivities.