2nd Amendment -- Pure and Simple

By Ralph Glasser

The Second Amendment was written back in the 1700s and must be interpreted in the vernacular of that era. It can only be truly understood by studying contemporaneous expositions on the subject written by the men who actually signed the document.

“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.”

Back in the 1700s, the term “well regulated” meant well trained or proficient. It had absolutely nothing to do with “regulation” in modern terms.

In fact, the independent clause of the sentence specifically disallows such modern regulation, in that the right “shall not be infringed.”

Since the “militia” was then defined as the “able-bodied men” in the community, what the Second Amendment really said in its original context is:

Freedom is secure only when able-bodied men in the community are well trained in its defense. Therefore, there shall be no encroachment on the right of the people to own arms and to carry them.

Clearly, U.S. citizens residing in Illinois have had their fundamental rights infringed for far too long.

­ From the opinion pages of  SJ-R.com