|
|
|
NOTE!
This is a real-time comments system. As such, it's also a
free speech zone within guidelines set forth on the Post
Comments page. Opinions expressed here may or may not
reflect those of KeepAndBearArms staff, members, or
any other living person besides the one who posted them.
Please keep that in mind. We ask that all who post
comments assure that they adhere to our Inclusion
Policy, but there's a bad apple in every
bunch, and we have no control over bigots and
other small-minded people. Thank you. --KeepAndBearArms.com
|
The
Below Comments Relate to this Newslink:
| Comment by:
PHORTO
(4/22/2021)
|
As Rich Coon points out, the contemporaneous meaning of the term "well regulated" was "maintained and in proper working order."
But the real issue is the grammatical structure of the sentence. The term "well regulated" modifies the noun "militia," not the noun "right" nor the noun "people." "Well regulated," isn't even in the same clause. It is the militia that is to be "well regulated," not the "right" nor the "people." Whichever definition of "well regulated" one chooses is irrelevant; it isn't applied to the people or to the right to bear arms.
I hope that the explanations offered by Mr. Coon and myself are helpful to Mr. Selby. |
|
|
| QUOTES
TO REMEMBER |
| As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms. — Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1. |
|
|
