Ravi
Diamond Member
Wouldn't that mean than anyone that possessed a gun would have had to go to Iraq to fight if called upon to do so?To keep government in check:
Declaration of Independence:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Noah Webster:
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.
James Madison's original wording of the Second Amendment:
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.
There are several Supreme Court decisions which explain that the amendment is not saying you must belong to a standing or existing militia to own a gun, but that every able bodied man must be able to possess a gun in the event they are needed to be called upon to defend their country.