Quote:
Originally Posted by garickman
The problem with independent Constitution scholars is that they all have different opinions on what our founding fathers intentions were in the drafting of the Constitution. Granted these scholars have a far far greater amount of knowledge than I have or ever will have for that matter. I agree that if one is an expert of the Constitution and of the Federalist Papers, the history of the United States, Shays Rebellion, the whiskey rebellion, etc. they could probably come up with a very educated opinion on what the intentions were of our founding fathers. The problem is it would still just be an opinion.
Not everything I have posted in this thread do I necessarily agree with. I base my arguments on facts as they are today. As I have stated before, there is no law, statute, or Constitutional provision that exists in this country that allows someone to fight domestic tyranny. There is also nothing in the Constitution to suggest the second amendment was enacted to fend off a tyrannical government. Therefore it would not matter if all the independent Constitutional scholars in the world all agreed that defense against a tyrannical government was in fact the basis of the second amendment. Last time I checked a scholar's opinion could not create case law.
The only point I have ever tried to get across is a fact, whether we agree or disagree, it is a fact that as of today can not be disputed. The fact is the the only entity today that can interpret the Constitution is the United States Supreme Court, and when they hand down a decision in regards to the Constitution it becomes case law and it can not be disputed.
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"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government." -James Madison
And if you look at this; "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," in light of this; "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security," it becomes quite apparent as to the how and why of the Second Amendment.
But let's not take my word for it, let's look at what our founders and other men of their ilk had to say...
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials." -George Mason
"A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country." -James Madison
"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." -Elbridge Gerry
"No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms." -Thomas Jefferson
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them." -Thomas Paine
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -James Madison
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?" -Patrick Henry
"The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." -Samuel Adams
"The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -James Madison
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." -Thomas Jefferson
"Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms." -Aristotle
"There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men." -Robert A. Heinlein
" ... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law." -Martin Luther King Jr
"A free people ought to be armed." -George Washington
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." -George Washington
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)
"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." -Thomas Jefferson
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense." -John Adams
"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them." -George Mason
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe." -Noah Webster
"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." -Noah Webster
“A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace." -James Madison
"The ultimate authority resides in the people alone." -James Madison
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -Richard Henry Lee
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms." -Richard Henry Lee
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun." -Patrick Henry
"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction." -St. George Tucker
"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." -Joseph Story
" ... for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion." -Alexander Hamilton
In decem ibi libertas!
Servabit nos nostram libertatem!
Bill
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