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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Second Amendment News Roundup for 6/16/07

Washington, DC (TLS). Here is today's Second-Amendment news roundup:

Traction Control announces a gun-bloggers' rendezvous coming up soon:
http://tractioncontrol.well-regulatedmilitia.org/?p=466

The Volokh Conspiracy posts an excellent primer on the meaning of the term 'free state' in the Second Amendment:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_06_10-2007_06_16.shtml#1181941233

Alphecca blogs on something that should make your blood boil...Mexico, of all places, is complaining about U.S. gun laws! It's not enough that they want to overrun the country, now they want our gun laws tightened because 'they make it too easy for citizens to buy firearms!' Those bastards! Read it all here:
http://www.alphecca.com/?p=246

Alphecca also reports that Smith & Wesson is reporting a banner year in gun sales! This shows that Americans are waking up to the only fool-proof way to protect ourselves against muggers, murderers, and rapists--fire-power:
http://www.alphecca.com/?p=245

Armed and Safe gives an update on the gun-grabber protests at a gun shop in Illinois:
http://armedandsafe.blogspot.com/2007/06/jesse-and-snuffy-back-at-chucks-for.html

Sebastian at Snowflakesinhell writes about an impending gun purchase...this one looks interesting:
http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/?p=860

2 comments:

Brent said...

I found the Volokh Conspiracy article to be quite good.

The 2nd Amendment, in addition to enumerating the right to keep and bear arms, also states that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state. Why is it that our founders believed this?

I believe that it is true today that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, however we neither have a well-regulated militia, nor a populace that believes this to be true.

It is time for 2nd Amendment advocates to have a public discussion about the need for a well-regulated militia and why it is vital to freedom and liberty. Until we put the idea of a well-regulated militia back into a good light with the public, and strengthen and revitalize the militia we will continue to see the 2nd Amendment, and other liberties attacked.

Since the Parker decision in which a federal court upheld the 2nd Amendment I have read several articles, including this one, calling for the repeal of the 2nd Amendment.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200706/CUL20070612a.html

The author of the above article, for one, is misinformed on the purpose of the militia. He states:

"One of the things that they believed was that the right of states to organize militias, and therefore individuals to be armed, was necessary to protect the liberty of those states against the federal government," Wittes said. "This is something we don't really believe as a society anymore." (This statement is one the Volokh Conspiracy article specifically addresses.)

First, the right to organize militias is not exclusive to the states. It is the peoples' right. How would the militia prevent tyranny in government, if the government had the exclusive right to organize it? The purpose of militia's was not exclusively for the protection of the states against the federal government, but for the peoples' protection against government in general (and against foreign invasion as well).

Additionally, the author states that today, people don't believe that militias, and individual arms ownership is vital to protect liberty. The author is probably right to some degree on this point, but that doesn't mean he is correct in his assumption that a well-regulated militia and individual arms ownership is NOT vital to liberty.

The founders of our country understood that a well-regulated militia and individual arms ownership is vital to liberty and hence they added the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution. And they were looking back at history over many centuries to come to their conclusions.

2nd Amendment supporters are quick to defend the right to keep and bear arms, but we must not forget the other part of the amendment which states that a well-regulated militia (the people, an armed citizenry, citizen militia)is necessary to the security of a free state (our nation, our homeland, our country,).

The future of freedom and liberty in our nation are dependent on us having a serious debate on this issue and coming to the right conclusions. With the anti's bringing up the issue of repealing the 2nd Amendment, I say it is time for us to bring up the issue of strengthening and revitalizing the concept of citizen's militias.

Here are some links to articles written by Dr. Edwin Vieira for more information in regards to revitalizing the concept of citizen's militias:

http://www.gunowners.org/opevtb.htm

http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwinA.htm

Welshman said...

An excellent observation, Brent, and one about which I have had quite a bit of concern of late.

I, too, have noticed the small but ever-growing chorus of voices among anti-gun advocates that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed. It seems they have finally seen the light and realize that the Amendment means exactly what it says, and this scares the living hell out of them.

Thus, now their only recourse, rather than try to 'interpret' away the clear meaning of the Amendment, is to push for its repeal altogether.

I would be quick to remind everyone, however, that this is the very same crowd that only recently contended that the 2nd Amendment did not give anyone the right to own firearms.

These people are sleazy, underhanded, scheming, and subversive. We must watch them like a hawk.

Martyn