SECOND AMENDMENT The S

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." At the time of the Second Amendment, there was no national standing army. During and after the Revolution, the state militias were the bone and muscle of the nation's infantry. The basic Constitution, in Article 1, Section 8, empowered Congress to provide for "calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." The militias were regarded not only as a vital national resource, but also as the sole defense of the states against national encroachment and internal subversion.

For the next 100 years, the firearms used in the state militias were mostly those brought into service by the citizen/soldiers themselves. If these people did not have guns, the militias could hardly be effective. Thus, the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" was essential to the viability of the "well-regulated militia" which, in turn, was "necessary to the security of the free state." Those who interpret the Second Amendment as providing only for a state's right to have a militia see only half of the picture, omitting the Amendment's implication that private possession of guns is basic to the existence of such militias. The Amendment must also be interpreted as providing or protecting the individual's personal right

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eep and bear arms existed prior to the Constitution by stating that such a right "is not a right granted by the Constitution, neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence." Because there was no federal jurisdiction over private action and because the right of self-defense is a natural right, the right to keep and bear arms cannot be questioned. United States v. Miller (1939) applied the Second Amendment to a federal firearms statute, or the idea of the militia. It discussed the development and structure of the militia, which, the Court pointed out, consisted of "all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense," and the Court said that "when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time." The Miller case also rejected the view that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms only to those individuals who are members of the militia. Had the Court reviewed the Second Amendment as guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms only to all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense, it would certainly have discussed whether Miller met the quali
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Approximate Word count = 2232
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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