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June 9th, 2008, 09:49 AM #1
Gun advocates ignore meaning of 'bearing arms' through history
This is an asswipe I didn't even commeny to him
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pb...NcLouSx7knU%3D
Gun advocates ignore meaning of 'bearing arms' through history
By Jay Thomas • June 9, 2008
The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says: "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."
This is to give a little insight into this matter which is so blatantly misinterpreted by the "Blathering Class" and other "federal authority" opponents. In the United States, the meaning of "bear arms" is a matter of recent dispute and political debate. One argument is whether the right to "bear arms" relates to the right of an individual to have arms, or whether it relates to a military service meaning, as with the functioning and maintenance of a militia, which is the introductory portion of the amendment.
Many historians have published peer-reviewed research which shows that prior to and through the 18th century, usage of the expression "bear arms" referred to the profession of military service, as opposed to the use of firearms by civilians.
In late-18th century parlance, bearing arms was a term of art with an obvious military and legal connotation. A review of the Library of Congress' database of congressional proceedings in the revolutionary and early national periods reveals the 30 uses of "bear arms" and "bearing arms" in bills, statutes, and debates of the Continental, Confederation, and United States' Congresses between 1774 and 1821 invariably occur in a context exclusively focused on the army or the militia.
As an example, the expression "bear arms" is contained in the Declaration of Independence in the sense of military service on a warship, as part of an indictment of the king of Great Britain for conscripting colonial sailors to serve on British warships: "He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands."
For those who maintain that every able-bodied man in the country is a member of the "militia," check Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, which provides explicit authority and character for the Militia: "The Congress shall have Power To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress."
Thomas is an Endicott resident.
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