2.0 "The Second Amendment is really just an irrelevant anachronism, but if it has any meaning at all today, it just means that the Federal government can't disarm the National Guard."
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This article is from the talk.politics.guns Official Pro-Gun FAQ, by Ken Barnes (kebarnes@cc.memphis.edu) with numerous contributions by others.
2.0 "The Second Amendment is really just an irrelevant anachronism, but if it has any meaning at all today, it just means that the Federal government can't disarm the National Guard."
See United States Constitution (U.S.C.), Amendment II:
"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." (See also 2.0.a)
also U.S.C. Article I, sec. 8 (clauses 15 and 16, commonly
referred to as "the militia clauses") -- Powers of Congress:
"...To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the
Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
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;"
also U.S.C. Article II, sec. 2 (clause 1) -- President to be
Commander-in-Chief. (etc.)
"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States,
when called into the actual Service of the United States;"
also U.S. Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) title 10 sec. 311
(as amended Nov. 30, 1993) [relating to the definition of militia]
"311. Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied
males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section
313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a
declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States
and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the
National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are--
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National
Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members
of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the
Naval Militia."
also U.S.C.A. title 32 sect. 101 (as amended Sep. 29, 1988)
[relating to the establishment of the National Guard]
"101. Definitions
[...]
(3) "National Guard" means the Army National Guard and the
Air National Guard.
(4) "Army National Guard" means that part of the organized
militia of the several States and Territories, Puerto Rico,
and the District of Columbia, active and inactive, that--
(A) is a land force;
(B) is trained, and has its officers appointed, under the
sixteenth clause of section 8, article I, of the Constitution;
(C) is organized, armed, and equipped wholly or partly at
Federal expense; and
(D) is federally recognized.
(5) "Army National Guard of the United States" means the
reserve component of the Army all of whose members are members
of the Army National Guard.
(6) "Air National Guard" means that part of the organized
militia of the several States and Territories, Puerto Rico,
and the District of Columbia, active and inactive, that--
(A) is an air force;
(B) is trained, and has its officers appointed, under the
sixteenth clause of section 8, article I, of the Constitution;
(C) is organized, armed, and equipped wholly or partly at
Federal expense; and
(D) is federally recognized.
(7) "Air National Guard of the United States" means the reserve
component of the Air Force all of whose members are members of the
Air National Guard."
also "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language,"edited by
Noah Webster (1803), p. 252
also Oxford English Dictionary (O.E.D.), 2nd ed. (1989) v.XX p. 138
for definition of "well-regulated"
"WELL-'REGULATED, ppl. a. [participial adjective]
1709 SHAFTSB."Moralists_II. iv. 108 If a liberal Education
has form'd in us . . well-regulated Appetites, and worthy
Inclinations. 1714 R. FIDDES."Pract."Disc."II. 250 The
practice of all well regulated courts of justice in the world.
1812 J. JOYCE."Sci."Dial.,"Astron."xii. II. 126 The equation of
time . . is the adjustment of the difference of time, as shown
by a well-regulated clock, and a true sun-dial. 1848
THACKERAY_Van."Fair."lviii, A remissness for which I am
sure every well-regulated person will blame the Major. 1862
MRS. H. WOOD_Mrs."Hallib."I. v. 27 It appeared, to her well-
regulated mind, like a clandestine proceeding. 1894 "Pop."
"Sci."Monthly."June 165 The newspaper, a never wanting
adjunct to every well-regulated American embryo city."
also v.XIII pp. 524-525 of the O.E.D. for the definitions of
"regulated" and "regulation"
also "Publius" (pseud. Alexander Hamilton), "Federalist VI,"
"The Independent Journal (N.Y.),"Nov. 14, 1787, p.2, col.2
also_Commentaries on the Laws of England,"by Sir William Blackstone,
Oxford, (1765), Bk.I ch.I pp.136-139
also_A Discourse of Government with relation to Militia's,"[sic]
by Andrew Fletcher, (1698)
also Virginia Constitution, art. I, sec. 13 (See text at 2.3)
also
Cottrol, Robert J., and Diamond, Raymond T., "The Second
Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration,"
Georgetown Law J. v.80 pp. 309-361 (1991) [Reprinted in
"Guns: Who Should Have Them?,"David B. Kopel, ed. (see above)]
Kates, Jr., Donald B., "The Second Amendment and the Ideology
of Self-Protection," Constitutional Commentary v.9 pp. 87-104
(1992)
"That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right,"
by Stephen P. Halbrook, University of New Mexico Press [reprinted by
the Independent Institute], ISBN 0-945999-24-0, (1984)
"For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Original Intent
and Judicial Interpretation of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,"
by Clayton E. Cramer, Praeger Publications, ISBN 0-275-94913-3 (1994)
"The Constitution of the United States,"an annotated edition by the
research staff of the Library of Congress, U.S. Senate Document 99-16
(1982)
"To Keep And Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right,"
by Joyce Malcolm, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-89306-9,
(1994)
"The Roots of the Bill of Rights,"by Bernard Schwartz, Chelsea House,
ISBN 0-87754-207-4, (1980) [an illustrated 5-vol. edition of Schwartz'
definitive work_The Bill of Rights: A Documentary History,"Chelsea
House, ISBN 07-0796613-0 (1971)]
"United States Statutes at Large,"published under the authority of
the United States Congress; Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, Mass.,
[no ISBN] v. I, p. 21 (1861)
and
Dred Scott v. Sandford, U.S. Reports (19 Howard) v.60 p.417, Lawyer's
Edition v.15 p.691 (1856)
Perpich v. Department of Defense, U.S. Reports v.496 p.334, Supreme
Court Reporter v.110 p.2418, Lawyer's Edition 2nd series v.110
p.312 (1990) (see abstract in Appendix V.)
In summary: There is no historical basis to the claim that the Framers
of the Second Amendment intended to limit its scope solely to protecting
organized state militias from being disarmed by the Federal Government.
In any event, the National Guard is a reserve unit of the United States
Army, and not a creation of the individual state governments. It is
essentially a Federal force which the governors of the states may
"borrow" if the Federal Government does not object. During the civil
rights movement of the 1960s, governors attempting to enforce
segregation by using the National Guard found out why it's called
"National" (if they hadn't known already). The English common law
tradition, and the works of political philosophy which influenced the
Founders of our republic, as well as their own writings, show that the
right to keep and bear arms (RKBA, as it's often abbreviated on t.p.g.)
was considered the hallmark of a free people, and distinguished a free
man from a slave (see 3.3). Prior to the January 21, 1903 establishment
of the National Guard, the Militia Act passed by the Second Congress
on May 8, 1792 had been in force, requiring "each and every free able-
bodied white male citizen of the respective states" between age 18 and
45 to be enrolled in the local militia, and to "provide himself" with
arms as specified by Congress (originally an eighteen gauge firelock
or musket). Following the establishment of the National Guard, Congress
provided for the arming and training of the National Guard under its
powers raise and support armies, and made the organized militias of
the states into a reserve unit of the U.S. Army called the National
Guard of the United States. The National Guard has been part of the
Army by law since June 15, 1933; another part of the trend towards
an increasingly centralized national government which began after the
1861-1865 U.S. Civil War.
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