Second Amendment Myth: The Myth

The Second 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.'

Note: the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is legally barred from studying the effects of firearms upon the American population– really GOP? This means the US Government has no more idea of the mental health implications of gun violence than anyone else. There are no numbers. No one knows exactly how many people were shot dead last year in the US. There's no precise database, no standard– only estimates. Beyond working towards a day when the numbers are finally seen and studied, we have no other choice but to look outside of the US for clues.

“It's not access to guns; it's an issue of mental health.”

Every time I hear this, I cringe. It's both. Generally in countries with restrictive guns rights (at the very least on par with driving a car), gun-related mass-murder by the populace is not the daily occurrence it's becoming in the US. In modern societies with the most limited rights like Japan, these events are rare if ever. Australia is a wonderful example of how removing weapons of useless violence after one of these incidences drastically reduces these incidences. It is not about removing tools that happen to be guns but addressing access to weapons of mass-murder and mental health. How much of an arsenal does one require to protect one's self from lunatics?

Access to Arms by the US Citizenry as a Constitutional Right is a lie, in fact a very lucrative myth. Nowhere in the Constitution are individuals given the right have a gun. It is the right of the people (everyone in every State) that the States are given an implied directive to create a well regulated Militia (the words are capitalized for a reason; although this is not the ratified version of the amendment, it exists in the National Archives as the original version passed by Congress, handwritten by William Lambert). The Second Amendment gives this and only this Militia the right to keep and bear Arms because a well regulated body (and I'm going to hammer the point here: only the Militia is bestowed with the right to keep and bear Arms) is 'necessary to the security of a free State.'

And when it comes to regulation, 'regulated' is the third word of the amendment. Furthermore, the word 'gun' or 'rifle' or the phrase, 'just enough explosive to blow this tree-root apart,' cannot be found in any corner of the Constitution. Arms are strictly tools of war, created to defend the State from enemies, both foreign and domestic. The Second Amendment has nothing to do with Cousin Skeeter duck hunting with a hunting rifle. The Second Amendment is about securing a free State. Arms include everything from a knife to a Cruise missile. Just about everyone can have a knife but no one can have a Cruise missile. Missiles are for governments; States are governments with a Constitutional right to keep and bear Arms. The term 'Arms' clearly applies to States, not individuals like you and me.

Why does the Constitution create Militias? Think about it: they're the touchstone of American freedom. The Revolution was a bunch of independent, community-based actors coming together to win. When this document was written, America had no cash to finance a standing army. But we had skills and an effective model. We succeeded in the face of an overwhelming invasion by stitching together a cluster of militias into an effective army at a moments notice.

The Second Amendment's sole purpose insures a ready-force, willing to act in the face of an external threat to the freedom of any State; the only individual here is the State. This amendment does not provide citizens ready-access to an arsenal of mass-murder. Only the State's Militia has the right to these instruments of destruction. In truth, this amendment's brevity is matched only by its genius: it provided our newborn country with a relatively affordable, standing army, comprised of people like you and me, supplied, and trained by the State to bear these Arms for our collective security.