The Militia Question, Resolved: Second Amendment 101

Twenty-seven words first published in 1790 are now the source of the bitterest controversy the USA has seen since the 1960s if not since the War Between the States a century before that. They are central to an issue that splits left and right, male and female, white and nonwhite, North and South, East and West, wealthy and not-so wealthy. They are: 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. Let’s get this straight right away. First of all, the inalienable right of individuals to keep and bear arms as a check on a tyrannical government predates our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. This, among other things, was clearly and eloquently expressed in Sir William Blackstone's 1768 "Commentaries On The Laws of England.” Hence, the Founders were operating within a long historical tradition based upon English common law. Secondly, the term “well-regulated” meant something quite different two centuries ago. It is not today’s definition of “controlled,” “limited,” or “restricted” but was instead defined as “having proper kit and provisions” or in the case of objects or machinery, “properly maintained and kept in good repair.” The next is the Constitutional definition of the “militia,” and this what requires detailed explanation. The militia issue was extensively debated during the 1787–89 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and today has sadly been ignored by both sides in this issue. Founder George Mason explicitly wished to have it clearly spelled out that the militia was “of the whole people," in effect, a “general militia” that was affirmed in the Second Amendment and the 1792 Militia Act. Mason and his supporters feared the development of "special militias" – ones much like the Puritan "Roundheads" led by Oliver Cromwell and their opponents, the “Cavaliers,” in the English Civil War of 1642–57. Special militias are nothing more than state-sanctioned paramilitary groups – witness the German Nazi SA and its successor the SS as well as the Italian Fascist "Blackshirts." In those cases, Nazi/Fascist Party membership was strictly required to join them as well as to legally own a firearm of any kind in either of those countries at the time...read more