Quick Response To Detractors Claiming That 2A Was Not Seen As An Individual Right Until 2008
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 8 months ago
From our friends at reddit/firearms. He says feel free to copy and paste, and he’s clearly set it out there for the good of mankind. Thus, I reproduce it entirely.
Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.
- Tench Coxe, A friend of James Madison and himself a Delegate to the Continental Congress, writing in support of the Madison’s first draft of the Bill of Rights, 1789.
Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.
- James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788
A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.
- Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788
The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.
- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833
The founders were big believers in natural rights. The Bill of Rights did not grant us any rights, it recognized preexisting inalienable rights. The Supreme Court confirmed this way back in 1876:
The right there specified is that of “bearing arms for a lawful purpose.” This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. [READ THAT LAST SENTENCE TWICE] The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed, but this, as has been seen, means no more than that it shall not be infringed by Congress
- United States v. Cruikshank.
It is both an individual and collective right. Find me one founder quote saying the 2A ONLY protects state militias. I’ll wait.
On March 21, 2019 at 10:09 pm, MTHead said:
AMEN!
On March 21, 2019 at 11:24 pm, BRVTVS said:
There were also other proposed amendments during the founding era, some of which were more explicit than the 2nd amendment. For instance, from Amendments Proposed by the Virginia Convention, (June 27, 1788) [http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-anti-federalist-papers/amendments-proposed-by-the-virginia-convention-(june-27-1788)-.php]:
“That government ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people; and that the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.”
and
“That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.”
On March 22, 2019 at 11:28 am, Heywood said:
AOC said facts and truth don’t matter as long as your teeth…I mean, heart….is in the right place. Sorry…Freudian slip.
On March 22, 2019 at 3:08 pm, scott s. said:
Some legislators in my idiot state entered a resolution asking congress to amend the 2A to state that it is a “collective” right. In their “whereas” findings, they seem to believe the individual right was created de novo by Heller.
On March 23, 2019 at 2:09 am, Dan said:
The gun grabbing left is comprised of two basic groups. The enormous mouth breathing knuckle dragging majority that can’t wipe their own ass
and or function without someone TELLING them day to day how to live and their masters. Group A provides the votes that give group B power.
Group A is TOO STUPID to use logic, rational thought or even understand WHAT a “fact” is. Talking to them about ANYTHING is a waste of time.
Group B is in fact, for the most part, relatively rational and capable of
understanding logical thought and facts. This group simply DOES NOT CARE. They seek to RULE us with impunity. This requires they disarm us.
So they LIE….and their sycophantic supports
On March 23, 2019 at 8:03 am, Frank Clarke said:
It is the most closely-guarded secret in all of American history that the 2nd amendment was meant only as a means to enable states to maintain their own armies. Over the centuries, those opposed to this idea have methodically tracked down and destroyed any and all documents surviving from the founding era that might have suggested this. That, and that alone, is why there is today not a single scrap of documentary evidence supporting the eminently reasonable view that the right of the people to keep and bear arms in fact means something entirely different than what a plain reading of the text suggests.
Dan Brown’s bestselling “The DaVinci Code”, in fact, was originally going to expose this vast conspiracy, but sinister forces within the publishing industry conspired to change Brown’s blockbuster story to something less controversial. They’re everywhere. We’re doomed.