Bill of Rights 2nd Amendment - 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... ...(In today's language) Since a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged.... http://www.saf.org/Journal/4/4_Schulman.html ...According to the 2nd Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms is a PRE-EXISTING RIGHT and is NOT CONTINGENT on whether or not a Militia(well regulated or otherwise) exists...
I dug a little bit more to find where that 'PRE-EXISTING RIGHT' was originally written and I MIGHT have found it. The Founders Constitution Amendment II Document 5 Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, Declaration of Rights, art. 13 Thorpe 5:3082--84 ...XIII. That the people have a right to bear arms for the >defence of themselves and the state<; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; And that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power... http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/bill_of_rightss5.html http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/ I don't see anything in Article XIII about using one type of firearm for the '>defence of themselves<' and another type of firearm for '>defence of the state<'. Sounds like fully automatic weapons are OK for both, according to Article XIII. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
