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

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.