Paul Helmke: The Second Amendment: The Real Issue

from HuffPost:



Paul Helmke
The Second Amendment: The Real Issue
Posted December 2, 2007 | 03:24 AM (EST)


Too many participants in the debate over what the Second Amendment means have framed the issue incorrectly.

The question should not be whether the Amendment protects an "individual" or "collective" right to own guns. That is a red herring, one that leads partisans on either side to look at only half of the Amendment - either the "Militia purpose" clause, or the "keep and bear Arms" clause.

As I argued earlier, we have to read all the words in the Second Amendment, not just the ones we like.

Instead, the real issue in this debate is what purpose the Amendment was written to protect, and how, therefore, the Second Amendment should be interpreted and applied. Fortunately, the Supreme Court clearly spoke to that question in the 1939 Miller decision:





So, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Second Amendment has a militia purpose. Not a hunting purpose. Not a self-defense purpose. Not a target-shooting purpose. Not a "private purpose." Just a militia purpose.

Unfortunately, however, the lower-court opinion in the DC gun case ignored this nearly 70-year-old precedent and invented a rationale to invest the Second Amendment with a non-existent "private purpose."

This is the central reason why that decision was clearly erroneous and should be reversed. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/the-second-amendment-the_b_74971.html

People can argue over the meaning of well regulated but they can not argue that the wording is there..In any sense though it does not mean anyone can do anything...If it means having a regulated Militia then it doesn't mean personal use. If it means the individual should be "well regulated" then that means safety laws and certain restrictions..

At the time, "well-regulated" did NOT mean laws, rules and regulations. It means trained. In other words, "well-trained".

http://www.webster.com/dictionary/regulate

when do we get on with our lives and hope to change the things that we have a chance to change?

The miller decision was based on an outright lie by the government attorney Gorden Dean.

The second amendment is a recognition of the danger of standing armies. It's purpose is to recognize that every citizen has the right to keep and bear the same type of basic arms as a soldier in a modern military. A militia embodies all able bodied men over the age of 16. Therefore , a militia will always outnumber a standing army by at least twenty to one. If thei militia is armed with weapons similar to those used by the individuals comprising the standing army , it will be impossible for that standing army to to inflict the will of a tyrannical government upon the people. The Second Amendment is the ultimate guarantee behind all the other articles in the Bill of Rights. It is the utimate guarantee that citizens of the United States will always remain free.