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I bought this book after hearing some idiots on facebook talking about the militia. I've only read about 100 pages in this book so far. Keep that in mind. I highly suggest reading this book for anyone interested in the historical context of the 2nd amendment pre revolutionary war, and post revolutionary war up to 1826. The book is a bit clinical so expect lots of dates, facts, news paper articles, and old letters from our founders. I find a lot of it to be fascinating, but I can only read about a chapter at a time before my brain has hit overload with facts. My favorite part so far is the very similar ways the British government enacted gun control compared to CA legislature.
My interruption of the facts provided so far in this book are provided below. Don't read it if you expect to read more about the overall nature of the book.
I decided to investigate the anti-2A view as to why the militia is a collective right, not an individual.
Assume the militia is suppose to be the right of each individual state to keep standing militias so that a federal standing army cannot exist. Assume the militia is a "collective right" of the state run militia. Even if that is true, the militia in historical times required that everyone bring their own arms to battle. The government did not supply arms. Common law also required that every male 16-60 be part of the militia. The 2nd amendment clearly states, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed". It doesn't say the right of the militia. If state militias were to collectively keep firearms in one central "secure" location, then each person would have the right to access the state run armory as they wish. There would be no special people who need good cause and are of good moral character to access the armory. We would all have the ability to bear (open carry) firearms and retain possession (keep) at anytime. Really, we would have the option of keeping our M4s at home or at the armory. If the state government prevented us from accessing armory firearms, the right "of the people" would be violated. If we could not longer access our firearms from the state armory, the right would no longer apply "to the people" but actually to the state. So if the 2nd amendment is a collective right it applies to everyone within that collective. If we no longer allow certain militia members to freely access the state armory, it would be a violation of the 14th amendment.
Essentially the militia clause was intended was to create a militia similar to the Swiss system, except each state would have their own militia. I think what the antis are really trying to say is that everyone who is a legal adult needs to be trained by the state militia. Especially since the constitution specifically reads the states are obligated to provide arms for the militia.
. Just like the Swiss system, we would have the right to keep militia arms after training if we wanted to.Also really interesting is that pistols were not considered military arms during the pre-revolution-1826. Despite that, there is one time (100 pages into book) where the term pistols and arms is grouped together. The people of the revolution are unhappy with General Gage's seizing of "arms and pistols". Seizing individuals pistols and arms was considered illegal by the colonists. As times have changed pistols have certainly become weapons of war. So have short barrel shotguns, suppressors, and machine guns. We constantly see our army using them in Iraq and Afghanistan during raids. To me that makes it very clear that any "arm"is a weapon each individual can hold by themselves. Machine guns, RPGs, grenades. Any state run militia would be using these types of weapons in a time of war, thus protected by the second amendment. During colonial times black powder was kept at "powder houses" that each individual had access to. They could buy or obtain powder as they please. This was due to the explosive nature of black powder. To me that says requiring the majority of grenades and RPGs to be kept in the state run militia house constitutional. We would of course have the ability to access those arms anytime we please.
Anyways, I hope you guys check out this book. It reads like a text book so don't expect any excitement, plots twists, or artistic twist within the text.
