Second Amendment

That Well-Regulated Militia in the Second Amendment

By J. Wesley ⋅ April 19, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

One crux of the Second Amendment debate concerns the meaning of a “militia.” Gun control advocates argue that a “well-regulated militia” applies only to the National Guard and makes no provision for individual ownership of firearms. Looking at the history of militias and the writings of the Founders, this just ain’t so.

First of all, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, militias in England are part of a common-law tradition extending back as far as the Anglo-Saxons. William Blackstone, the central figure in British constitutional thinking, considered gun ownership a basic “Right of Englishmen.” This right was enshrined in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which secured the right to keep and bear arms for Protestants. The English Bill of Rights was foundational to American claims to freedom during the Revolution.

In the U.S. context, militias composed of individual gun owners played a central role in the establishment of the colonies and their liberation from England. In fact, militias comprised of generally self-armed troops were a core element of the U.S. military throughout much of the 19th century. In the context of the American Founding, a militiaman had his own gun.

Even today, the U.S. Code makes clear that the “militia” is not only a National Guard, but also the whole body of the people:

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

Could this be any more clear?

The American Founders were quite explicit about their belief in individual firearm ownership:

“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
George Mason
Co-author of the Second Amendment
during Virginia’s Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788

“And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …”
Samuel Adams
quoted in the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789, “Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State”

“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
George Washington
First President of the United States

“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
American Statesman, 1788

“The great object is that every man be armed.” and “Everyone who is able may have a gun.”
Patrick Henry
American Patriot

“The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that … it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; … ”
Thomas Jefferson
letter to Justice John Cartwright, June 5, 1824. ME 16:45.

And more:

“The best we can help for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.”
Alexander Hamilton
The Federalist Papers at 184-8

[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.

To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, countries or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.
John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of the United States 475 (1787-1788)

You may believe the Second Amendment is outmoded or dangerous, but it’s hard to be intellectually honest and say it doesn’t support individual gun rights. If you want to ban guns, do the honest thing and work for repeal of the Second Amendment.