Re: The 2ed Amendment as a Gun Nuts Wet Dream

"ulTRAX" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Diogenes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > And from George Mason: "[w]ho are the militia, if they be not the people
of
> > this country ...? I ask, who are the militia? They consist now of the
whole
> > people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the
> > militia of the future day. If that paper on the table gets no
alteration,
> > the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and
low,
> > and rich and poor ....
>
> Lame. Anti-slavery quotes from the Framers obviously can NOT be used
> as proof there was NO intent to protect slavery in the Constitution.
> Neither does Mason's private opinion UNLESS it's shown it became the
> basis for constitutional law. But there's NO evidence the Framers ever
> wanted a militia OUTSIDE of civil control. Militias were by definition
> a result of statutory law not common law. Dan Shays armed insurgents
> were NOT a legal militia.
>
> BTW the Senate REMOVED the "body of the people" reference from the
> draft amendment.

DY: Since the right of the people to keep and bear arms is specifically
protected, the "body of the people" language is tautologous and should have
been removed. Note that the Senate and House indicated in the introduction
to them that the amendments were intended to satisfy the Ratifying
Conventions. All of the last four Ratifying Conventions, which distinguished
Bill of Rights provisions from other amendments, uniformly defined "a well
regulated militia" in their Bill of Rights as "the body of the people".

Read the Founders' own period views on the Bill of Rights and Second
Amendment. Or, you could read gun control advocate Second Amendment spin and
compare it to the Founders' views just for laughs.

--
David E. Young    [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Editor - The Origin of the Second Amendment:
Cited over 100 times in the Emerson Decision
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/99/99-10331-cr0.htm
Info: http://www.secondamendmentinfo.com