Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - Bill of Rights

"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."

Preservation and Proposition

Our mission is to document the pivotal Second Amendment events that occurred in Frontier Mercersburg, and its environs, and to heighten awareness of the importance of these events in the founding of our Nation.

We are dedicated to the preservation of the place where the Second Amendment was "born" and to the proposition that the Second Amendment (the "right to bear arms") is the keystone of our Liberty and the Republic.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Why the "2nd Amendment House" is Important!

Why the "2nd Amendment House" is Important!
By JW Ross

Why it matters where the principles of our "Right to Bear Arms" were first established! Why the origins of the 2nd amendment are important!

Because it matters to the Supreme Court and the lawyers who argue before them. . . in both of the recent cases, original intent and the history behind the "Right to Bear Arms" amendment were a critical part of the debate, and the decision. It matters in the same way the origins of the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence matters.

Why does it matter that there is a place where all this happened? It matters because critics of the "Right to Bear Arms" can deny the words on a page or in a book, but it is hard to look at brick and mortar and deny its existence. To anyone who has visited the Alamo, Gettysburg, or the beaches at Normandy, this concept is easily understood. To be able to stand in a place and know that what they did there (to their extreme risk and peril), some 245 years ago, established the groundwork for one of the most important "rights" in the Bill of Rights.

It is one thing to read the 2nd amendment and its assertions, but it is quite another to stand where the very principles were argued and established.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Historic Smith House Saved - To Be Relocated - New Site Sought in Franklin County

By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The William Smith House in Mercersburg will be taken apart piece by piece and relocated.

A history-loving physician has worked out a deal to save an 18th-century home in Mercersburg.

Paul Orange said Tuesday that the William Smith House will be taken apart piece by piece over the next several weeks and reassembled on a new site elsewhere in the Franklin County community in southcentral Pennsylvania.

The future of the building has been in question since the structure and land on which it stands were acquired two years ago by a local volunteer fire company. The MMP&W Fire Co., which has its headquarters and garages next door to the Smith House on Main Street, had plans to demolish the building and expand on the property.