Saw NRA-ILA. It’s a position paper by the Georgia Traditional Manufacturers Association.
“Supporters of the bill who favor placing gun rights above the rights of private property owners rely on a questionable understanding of Second Amendment rights for legitimacy. Often the NRA and its supporters will argue that individual gun ownership is an inalienable right provided for in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is not consistent, however, with the text of that amendment nor with the courts that have interpreted it. The federal courts have consistently upheld restrictions on individual gun ownership and recognized that the origins of the Second Amendment arose from the needs of collective defense at the time the nation was founded.
The Second Amendment states: “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.” The “militia” at the time the Bill of Rights was adopted referred to state-run militias, which were viewed as an important counterbalance to the power of the federal army. Modern gun control laws do not impact the operation of state militias and therefore do not raise Second Amendment concerns.”
Um, no.
SB 43 will be voted on in the Georgia State Senate on Tuesday.
Is anyone else amused that the bill, SB43, is the same designation used by the Maryland Assault Weapons Ban?
“Um, no”, is right!
Militias of old and of today were/are not state run. States are prohibited to keep troops, etc, without the consent of Congress. A militia doesn’t actually exist until called out to duty by the civil authority in times of emergency.
Even the National Guard, considered the “active” militia, is not troops being kept by the state. It is active under Article I, Section 8, Clause (16), employed in the service of the United States.
The militia argument fails for another reason: The mention of the militia in the second Amendment is in a parenthetical phrase. It’s like saying, “Because I’m hungry, I’m going to the grocery store.” “Because I’m Hungry,” is a parenthetical phrase. “I’m going to the grocery store”, is the salent part of that sentence. My parenthetical phrase could be, “Being out of dog food,…”, or “A can of beans being on the menu tonight, and since I’m out of beans, I’m going to the grocery store.” None of those parenthetical phrases alter the fact that I’m going to the grocery store. In fact, you need not know why I’m going to the grocery store same as you need not know why my right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Woody
“I pledge allegiance to the rights that made and keep me free. I will preserve and defend those rights for all who live in this Union, founded on the belief and principles that those rights are inalienable and essential to the pursuit and preservation of life, liberty, and happiness.”