The Founding Fathers on the Second Amendment

"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

---

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves …"
Richard Henry Lee
writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.

---

"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full posession of them."
Zachariah Johnson
Elliot's Debates, vol. 3 "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution."

---

"… the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms"
Philadelphia Federal Gazette
June 18, 1789, Pg. 2, Col. 2
Article on the Bill of Rights

---

"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

Make no mistake about it. Those who would take away our Second Amendment rights do so ., i.e., to reduce our citizens to subjects, and to take away any of the rest of the bill of rights without objection of our citizens.

Americans deliberately confused on the true meaning of the second amendment of the constitution of the United States

The majority of the citizens of the united states are confused about the true meaning and original intent of the second amendment of the constitution of the united states.

I begin with original statements from some of our founders on the subject of the second amendment, militias, and our right to bear arms under the amendment. The amendment 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.Quotes on the Second Amendment by The Founding Fathers

"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

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves …" Richard Henry Lee writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.

"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full posession of them."Zachariah Johnson Elliot's Debates, vol. 3 "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution."

"… the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms"Philadelphia Federal Gazette June 18, 1789, Pg. 2, Col. 2 Article on the Bill of Rights"

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"

The Founding Fathers on Arms

"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

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside … Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them." Thomas Paine

"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

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?" Patrick Henry American Patriot

"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not." Thomas Jefferson Third President of the United States

"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.

"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 Founding Fathers on Maintaining Freedom

"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."Thomas Jefferson Third President of the United States

"There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. " Noah Webster American Lexicographer

"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." Edmund Burke British Statesman, 1784

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." Thomas Jefferson to James Madison

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin American Statesman Later Quotes on Gun Control

"The ruling class doesn't care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake." Malcolm Wallop former U.S. Sen. (R-WY)

Now, from one who found that Gun Control worked very well."This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" Adolph Hitler Chancellor, Germany, 1933 Quotes above are from Cap-n-ball dot com.

The above quotes represent only a few from our founding fathers on the second amendment, which was made a part of the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. These amendments were added to the constitution to limit the power of the federal government, created by the states as a servant of the states, from oppressing its creator, the states and its citizens. This is the obvious purpose of the founders for the amendment. The two main points can not be mistaken, and is the very reason the amendment was worded the way it is:

1. The founders intended each state to form a militia from its own citizens.

2. And to arm them. And also to permit them to own their own arms. Much of the fighting forces from both the North and the South used in the War Between the States, were militias of the various states.

Anyone who tells us the second amendment provides only for a militia, and not for the citizens of each state to be able to bear weapons, is lying to us. The two are bound together in the amendment. Individuals and laws of either the federal or state government who pass laws prohibiting their citizens from being not only owning arms, but bearing them, are guilty of breaking that bond. Anyone who tells you differently, is lying to you.

A final quote: The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. -Thomas Jefferson. I do not think anyone can twist the meaning of this statement!

In conclusion. We can very easily see the intent of the framers of the constitution, especially the second amendment in the bill of rights, that both the states should have their own militias, with every able bodied citizen being members, and having their own firearms, or those given them by the states. We can also see that states and cities that prohibit both concealed and open carry are in violation of the second amendment.

The Real Purpose of the Second Amendment--Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Obligations and Duties of Militia Members.

What exactly is a militia?
It may depend upon whose definition you use. I like the definition given by one of the founders:

"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American ... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People."
— Tench Coxe, 1788.

The word "militia" is a Latin abstract noun, meaning "military service", not an "armed group" (with the connotation of plurality), and that is the way the Latin-literate Founders used it. The collective term, meaning "army" or "soldiery" was "volgus militum". Since for the Romans "military service" included law enforcement and disaster response, it might be more meaningfully translated today as "defense service", associated with a "defense duty", which attaches to individuals as much as to groups of them, organized or otherwise.

When we are alone, we are all militia units of one. When together with others in a situation requiring a defensive response, we have the duty to act together in concert to meet the challenge. Those two component duties, of individuals to defend the community, and to act together in concert with others present, when combined with a third component duty to prepare to do one's duty and not just wait until the danger is clear and present, comprises the militia duty. Militia

Historical Militias
The character of militias in both the United Kingdom and the United States come to us from the days of the Anglo Saxons.

For fifteen centuries it has been a fundamental principle of Anglo-Saxon government--a fact that seems to be quite generally ignored--that every citizen capable of bearing arms owes, in return for his liberty and protection, the duty of personal service to protect and defend his government in time of need. At its base it is an obligatory and not a volunteer system, though, chiefly perhaps because the ordinary need of the State requires the service of far less than the number available, in England until recently, and here as well, the service seems to have been regarded not as a bounden duty but as necessarily voluntary, as, of course, it is under the policy legislatively established. The Colonists brought with them here the militia system indigenous to the land of their origin. [Italics mine] Legal and Historical Aspects of The Militia: Guncite.com.

No other American institution bears a closer resemblance to its ancient English ancestor than our militia. An examination of historic state documents of the colonies shows that all the essentials of the English system were established here. Just as the Second Amendment of our Constitution was borrowed from the Bill of Rights of 1688, so did our colonial legislatures adopt the militia laws of the Motherland. [Italics mine] Ibid.

So we can readily see that the use of militias have solid historical basis. The founding fathers were well versed in history, and within the principles they derived from having a Judeo-Christian background, thy wisely decided to create a constitutional mandate for our several states to form militias.

Duties of militias–Riot Control

Militias are attractive forces of order for several reasons. They have often deployed with battlefield weapons—from bayonets to cannon—that can overawe or, if necessary, decimate a crowd armed only with bricks, stones, and pistols. They also, at times, have brought an impressive discipline to riots, acting with a restraint and neutrality beyond the ability of a sheriff’s posse or a squad of special police hastily recruited from among civilians. Unlike professional police forces, they are not paid full-time, but lie mostly dormant until the rare emergencies when they are needed. And unlike regular soldiers, they are—in theory—composed of the local citizenry, and therefore unlikely to oppress the rights of the people. Zachary M Schrag’s notes on militias.

Community Service

You can search the internet for other duties performed by the militias of the colonies and some states today. They were called up to put down riots, to aid volunteer firefighters as some were, aid in cleaning up after natural disasters, and serve the community in other ways. Some were the social centers of their communities, providing help and assistance to citizens and service organizations.

Summation

Militias provide safety and a sense of well-being to the communities in which they serve. The colonies feared a standing army, preferring instead local militias. Today, we have a powerful standing army which is more than a match for any state militia. The second amendment is still the best defense against a potential tyrannical government, who would do away with the amendment. It is hoped, that if the federal government ever sent members of the armed forces against the states or individual citizen, that they would refuse to carry out the orders.

If that ever happened, a second war between the states would be fought, and the death toll would be unimaginable.

It can't happen here--or can't it?

This was posted on Soda Head Discussion Group:

You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.

With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun.You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows. One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside..

As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble. In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died.

They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter. "What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask."Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them.Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.

But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to die."The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media.

The surviving burglar has become a folk hero. Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges. The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term. How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ? It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns. Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands." All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences... Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars..

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kind of like cars. Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA ; THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"..It
does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." --Samuel Adams

If you think this is important, please forward to everyone you know. You had better wake up, because your president is going to do this very same thing over here if he can get it done... And there are stupid people in congress and on the street that will go right along with him.

Alan Keyes on the Second Amendment and gun rights

Ask your family and friends to watch this video. The leftist news media leaves out a lot of details in reporting use of guns in thwarting criminals.

Major States' rights violation developing in Montana

December 5, 11:09 AM Lake County Independent Examiner Robert Rule

If you are not familiar with States' rights you had better get educated. The people of Montana are notorious for being free (reference to the Montana Freemen). The Freemen snared the federal government in their own trap and paid dearly for it. Now the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has written letters to gun dealers in Montana “to let them know the BATFE will be disregarding the state sovereignty law.

The Montana law like in other states was written to stop the power of the federal government bureaucracy that uses the interstate commerce laws to regulate fire arms. In Montana the law clearly states that any firearm produced in Montana now will be sold exclusively in Montana which excludes it from interstate commerce. Read entire article here.

Blogger Comment:
Many states have now passed similar resolutions. The solution is for these same states to do as the Second Amendment 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" [emphasis mine]. The militia was never, as gun-control politicians contend, the National Guard, which was not created until after the war between the states.

These states should 'regulate' the training and to develop the proficiency of all of their citizens who wish to participate in their state militias. Both the North and the South sent their 'militias' into the battle in the Civil War.

'Anti-gunner' OSHA nominee advances without questions 'By fiat could outlaw firearms in workplaces, parking lots across America'

Posted: November 19, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved without question and without comment the nomination of David Michaels, the chief of a George-Soros-funded Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, as the next head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

As WND reported, Second Amendment advocates sounded an alarm over Michaels, warning the most significant attack on gun rights in years soon could come in the form of workplace "safety" regulations.

Obama's nomination of Michaels, a George Washington University professor, drew reaction from Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com. Read Entire Article here.

So much for gun control

Best article I've read on the Fort Hood Massacre:
So Much for Gun Control
By RANDY ALCORN

From DAILY SOUND — Nov. 10, 2009

There is little to salvage from last week’s mass murder at Fort Hood, Texas, but there are some stark realizations this heartbreaking horror exposes. One is the wishful but mistaken notion that such incidents can be prevented by laws prohibiting or strictly restricting access to firearms. The Second Amendment not with standing, U.S. military bases prohibit unauthorized personnel from carrying firearms on base. Access to military weapons is carefully restricted and weapons are secured in armories." Read entire article from DAILY SOUND, click here.

His comment on "U.S. military bases prohibit unauthorized personnel from carrying firearms on base" should wake us up. Every active duty man and woman in the military should be required to wear a side arm at least. Especially since I believe as time progresses, it will be revealed that this was a case of terrorism, not a nut that was disgruntled. This could happen again, and it could be much worse. We have to destroy the political correctness mentality before it kills us!

If among the murdered and wounded at Fort Hood any had been armed, the slaughter would have been less. The gunman would have been confronted by people who could defend themselves rather than by helpless victims. Free people should not only be able to arm themselves, they should be able to carry those arms on their person as they do their cell phones. Self defense is among the most basic of human and civil rights.

I heartily recomment reading the entire article, So Much for Gun Control. read article here.

N Y Shop Owner Protects Self & Employee with Shotgun

Originally posted Friday, August 14, 2009, by The Unreligious Right blog.

The Second Amendment in Action

Four criminals picked the wrong Harlem shop to rob. As they tried to put plastic cuffs on two employees, beating one who resisted, 72-year old Charles Augusto Jr grabbed his shotgun. He killed one of attackers and mortally wounded the second. The other two were also hit and fled bleeding. Both were found by police and arrested. Augusto, obviously acting in self-defense, was not charged.

Had Mr. Augusto relied solely on the police for protection, rather than arming himself, at best he and his employees would have been robbed and possibly beaten. At worst he'd be lying dead, after the criminals decided it might be better not to leave witnesses. Fortunately he didn't have to find out what might have happened.

In New York City, one must have a permit to own a shotgun. The fees required to obtain a permit are prohibitive to the poor and would prevent them from owning a shotgun for defense:

The application fee is $140.00. The fingerprint fee is $94.25 for fingerprints done on the Livescan machine. If you require inked prints, the fee is $105.25. You may pay the fees with a credit card or two POSTAL MONEY ORDERS, BANK TELLER’S CHECKS OR CERTIFIED CHECKS. Cash is not accepted. Please make your money orders or checks payable to the “New York City Police Department.” No personal checks will be accepted. See all NYPD Requirements here.

These requirements literally restrict the rights of many citizens of New York City their rights under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Police Assume Unconstitutional Power to Take Away Your Guns After An Emergency

Unconstitutional Gun Confiscation After Katrina
NRA: The Untold Story of Gun Confiscation After Katrina

by NRAVideos

The video you will see is horrifying. The crimes committed against law-abiding gun owners are beyond comprehension. The arrogance of anti-gun politicians and government officials and their hate of freedom will churn your stomach.

The law is the law, the Constitution is the Constitution. If ONE local mayor or police chief can decide what the Second Amendment means, it opens the door to tyranny—where ANY mayor or police chief can say what the Second Amendment means.

You’ve seen this brand of abuse of freedom in the history books—in the pages about days of gun confiscations leading to the terror of Stalin, Mao and Hitler. But you’d never in a million years think it could happen in America. Well, it can and it did. And it will happen again unless we take action today.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Police Superintendent P. Eddie Compass unleashed a wave of confiscations with these chilling words:

“No one will be able to be armed. We will take all weapons. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns.”

Thousands of firearms were then confiscated from law-abiding gun owners. The police gave no paperwork or receipts for those guns. They just stormed in and seized them. Read Story and view video here.

This is the last time this should happen. We must make sure it does not happen again.

Defeat of Thune amendment runs afoul of Constitution's full faith and credit clause

Jurist Legal News & Research
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
9:25 AM ET

Alan Gura [Partner, Gura & Possessky, PLLC]: "Gun rights opponents at last have cause to rejoice. Only 58 members of a lop-sided Democratic-controlled Senate approved of a provision mandating that states give full faith and credit to each other's gun-carry permits. The laws of forty-eight states, at least in theory, allow their peaceable citizenry to carry guns in public for self-defense. Forty of these states either require no license to do so, or issue such licenses as a matter of routine upon meeting basic qualifications. Even in the small minority of hold-out states, gun carry licenses are often available depending on one's residence. Senator Boxer's Marin County neighbors cannot carry a gun to defend themselves, but her constituents in Fresno and Bakersfield suffer no such disability if they dot their i's and cross their t's. Read Article.

Both Kansas Senators, Brownback and Roberts, voted in favor of the amendment as did Senator Bond of Missouri. Senator Claire Mccaskill voted against it.

Susanna Gratia Hupp: What the Second Amendment was REALLY for

Our state legislatures, not only the US congress, are depriving us of being able to utilize the full rights and benefits of the Second Amandment. By law, they do not allow honest citizens to carry concealed weapons unless they go through the arduous testing and spending time and money to obtain a concealed carry license.

Note the facial responses of those listening:


Click to play

Americans Arm Themselves Fearing New Gun Laws: Poll

"Americans Arm Themselves Fearing New Gun Laws: Poll" Newsmax.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 12:43 PM

By: Dave Eberhart

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say gun sales are up in the United States not because of the fear of crime but because of wariness over increased government restriction on gun ownership, according to a new Rasmussen survey. . "Americans Arm Themselves Fearing New Gun Laws: Poll" Read Article

So many Americans are buying guns, including ammunition, that ammunition for popular revolver and semi-automatic hand guns is scarce.

Some people claim that we have no worry as Candidate Obama said he was for private ownership of guns. However, Candidate Obama said a lot of things that he has gone back on once he ascended the throne of the Presidency.

Attorney General Eric Holder has publicly stated he is in favor of banning the sale of automatic rifles, and I believe he will try to deliver on his statement.

He advocated federal licensing of handgun owners, a three-day waiting period on handgun sales, rationing handgun sales to no more than one per month, banning possession of handguns and so-called "assault weapons" by anyone under age 21, a gun show restriction bill that would have given the federal government the power to shut down all gun shows, and national gun registration (source).

Gun owners---keep your powder dry!