Reply #68: Regarding the militia in 2A [View All]

[Shanty Oilish]

As Man_in_the_Moon notes:

"You are the Militia BECAUSE you have the right to guns.

You dont have guns because you are the Militia."


This seems so obvious to RKBA advocates. It must have been exceedingly obvious to the Framers also, since they left us such a poorly written amendment. But if you think about it, there would have been no possibility of forming a militia if private citizens were forbidden to possess firearms. It was a given that they had that right. What's the alternative? the local warehouse? You can't raise a militia that way---just an impotent crowd, after one strike at the warehouse by the enemy.

The Bill of Rights addresses the rights retained by individuals, and restricts the power of the government.

If they'd wanted it the other way---upholding the state militias only---they wouldn't have inserted it in the Bill of Rights. And each state would have immediately designated a state militia with the exclusive power to defend the state. And what would happen if that militia were decisively defeated? It would be left to the private citizen unable to defend himself much less the state.