Keep and Bear Arms
Home Members Login/Join About Us News/Editorials Archives Take Action Your Voice Web Services Free Email
You are 1 of 1916 active visitors Thursday, March 28, 2024
EMAIL NEWS
Main Email List:
Subscribe
Unsubscribe

State Email Lists:
Click Here
SUPPORT KABA
» Join/Renew Online
» Join/Renew by Mail
» Make a Donation
» Magazine Subscriptions
» KABA Memorial Fund
» Advertise Here
» Use KABA Free Email

» JOIN/Renew NOW! «
 
SUPPORT OUR SUPPORTERS

 

YOUR VOTE COUNTS

Keep and Bear Arms - Vote In Our Polls
Do you oppose Biden's anti-gun executive orders?
Yes
No
Undecided

Current results
Earlier poll results
4725 people voted

 

SPONSORED LINKS

 
» U.S. Gun Laws
» AmeriPAC
» NoInternetTax
» Gun Show On The Net
» 2nd Amendment Show
» SEMPER FIrearms
» Colt Collectors Assoc.
» Personal Defense Solutions

 

 


Keep and Bear Arms

Search:

Archived Information

Top | Last 30 Days | Search | Add to Archives | Newsletter | Featured Item


Letter to the Editor regarding the "Militia" Argument

by C. Dodd Harris

Originally published on this website July 10, 2000

Mr. Harris has said that anyone may send this letter to their own newspapers whenever it will serve the cause to do so.

The following is a Letter to the Editor of the Louisville, KY Courier-Journal. This one was actually published on 27 April 1998.

Your paper has stated that supporters of the right to keep and bear arms purposefully misread the 2nd Amendment. You are seriously mistaken - the "purposeful misreading" is on your part, and on the part of the anti-gun movement as a whole.

The assumption upon which you predicate your attacks on the 2nd Amendment rights of your fellow citizens is that the amendment exists purely for the purpose of arming a state militia and therefore does not codify an individual right. Leaving aside the terribly inconvenient fact that the current United States code [10 U.S.C. 311 (a)] explicitly states that "[t]he militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males" between the 17 and 45 years of age who are not a part of the "organized militia" (the National Guard and Naval Militia), your assertion is manifestly false on semantic grounds.

It is shocking that an institution that lives and breathes in nothing but words has so little understanding of the structure of the language. According to Roy Copperud (retired professor of journalism at the University of Southern California, member of the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and the author of American Usage and Style: The Consensus), "[t]he words 'A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,'" are not a restrictive clause. Rather, that phrase "constitutes a present participle. It is used as an adjective, modifying 'militia,' which is followed by the main clause of the sentence (subject 'the right', verb 'shall'). The 'to keep and bear arms' is asserted as an essential for maintaining a militia."

Further, "[t]he sentence does not restrict the right to keep and bear arms, nor does it state or imply possession of the right elsewhere or by others than the people; it simply makes a positive statement with respect to a right of the people." In short, the amendment guarantees a right held by the people, not the State. The Constitution consistently makes this distinction, referring to "the People" in numerous contexts; in every case, it is the rights of individuals to which this phrase refers. The 2nd Amendment is no exception. In fact, says Mr. Copperud, "[t]he right to keep and bear arms is not said by the amendment to depend on the existence of a militia.... The right to keep and bear arms is deemed unconditional by the entire sentence."

Who is guilty of purposeful misreading?

See Also:

Militia Archives


To Get Your Letters Printed Here
Click here and read submission guidelines.

Printer Version

 QUOTES TO REMEMBER
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. — Edmund Burke (1784).

COPYRIGHT POLICY: The posting of copyrighted articles and other content, in whole or in part, is not allowed here. We have made an effort to educate our users about this policy and we are extremely serious about this. Users who are caught violating this rule will be warned and/or banned.
If you are the owner of content that you believe has been posted on this site without your permission, please contact our webmaster by following this link. Please include with your message: (1) the particulars of the infringement, including a description of the content, (2) a link to that content here and (3) information concerning where the content in question was originally posted/published. We will address your complaint as quickly as possible. Thank you.

 
NOTICE:  The information contained in this site is not to be considered as legal advice. In no way are Keep And Bear Arms .com or any of its agents responsible for the actions of our members or site visitors. Also, because this web site is a Free Speech Zone, opinions, ideas, beliefs, suggestions, practices and concepts throughout this site may or may not represent those of Keep And Bear Arms .com. All rights reserved. Articles that are original to this site may be redistributed provided they are left intact and a link to http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com is given. Click here for Contact Information for representatives of KeepAndBearArms.com.

Thawte.com is the leading provider of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificate solutions used by enterprises, Web sites, and consumers to conduct secure communications and transactions over the Internet and private networks.

KeepAndBearArms.com, Inc. © 1999-2024, All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy