Free Post 2

         Well... this idea ties in nicely with my research project, but I think I will use this to get some thought and conclusions I've gathered from sources and interpretations into sentences.


          If you read my previous blog, you know that my research project is defining the intention of the second amendment (the right to keep and bear arms), and determining if and how we have strayed from it. For many, firearms provide a means for the widely enjoyed avocation of hunting. Those who have become erudite with their arms, and are adroit in the handling of such weapons, are often affronted by the idea that these possessions could just be whipped away on a whim. They have every right to be angry. That right is guaranteed in a document that was NEVER meant to be seen as a "living document." The Constitution of the United States of America grants the possession and use of firearms to the American people, both as individuals and as a full bodied militia.

          Militia is a key word in the phrasing of the Second Amendment. The fear of an overly powerful federal government drove the Framers to write into law the understanding that if ever the people would become dissatisfied and militant, they may fight- they may crusade- against that which they originally rebelled. Our government would now have us believe that this is not the case: that the Framers could never have imagined the weapons of today. However, the wording both in the amendment itself and in related documents is definitive. Arms. Not hunting rifles. Not six-shot revolvers. Arms. The people are the check on the government, as can be interpreted from the Federalist Papers. Anything the soldier can have, a member of the militia (that is: any man (or now citizen) between the ages of 18 and 45 as defined by the Militia Act of 1792) can also have. So, through my research thus far, I have realized that the American people no longer have the luxury of sitting tacitly by as our government twists our rights into indecipherable knots. With every right that is taken away, a new threat to the freedom and liberty of this country rises.