Friday, August 28, 2015

Guns, Words, Meanings -- an Originalist Proposal




Isn’t it strange that the Supreme Court “originalists” can ignore perfectly clear statements when it suits their political agenda.  There is no question that the Founders wrote this preamble to the Second Amendment, the only such explanatory statement in the Bill of Rights: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State...”  It is also clear that they did not write “a free Country.” So any state that wishes to regulate arms should so in the language of the amendment. The law might read something like this: “We the state of _________, being desirous of having a well regulated Militia, do hereby enact the following legislation:

All persons wishing to keep and bear arms shall register as members of this state’s militia.   Any person denied membership in the state militia shall also be denied the keeping and bearing of arms.  Reasons for being denied such membership may include criminal record, mental or emotional disability, membership in an organization whose aims and purposes are inimical to the laws and statutes of this state or of the national government, or such other reasons as would normally disqualify an individual from being a member of the state militia or the federal military.  Every person so registering shall be deemed to consent to a full review of their qualifications to serve under this legislation.

Be it further enacted that the arms described in this legislation shall be limited to those currently or in the future to be issued to individual members of the state militia, or such arms as may be useful for developing appropriate skills for eventual service, including such lesser arms as shotguns and smaller caliber weapons, and that no arms of greater firepower than those mentioned above shall be allowed to persons who have so registered, unless said persons shall be actively serving in a local, state, or federal entity that issues them such arms.

This law shall include the following exceptions:
1.     Persons whose physical condition may disqualify them from active duty, but who otherwise meet the standards of the militia.
2.     Persons under the age of military service who indicate their willingness to register for the militia when they come of age, and who take appropriate pre-militia training in the responsibilities of bearing arms.
3.     Persons who, having registered for the militia and passing the age limit for service, or who have passed the age limit for service prior to the enactment of this legislation, unless and until they no longer qualify, except by age or physical disability, for such possession.

Be it noted that registering for the militia in no way implies that a person is liable for militia duty except under such circumstances as shall seem to the legislature and the executive to require a general call-up of all such persons.  Nor does it imply that any person who does not seek the right to bear arms need register under the law.

Persons who do not wish to meet these requirements shall have 90 days following the passage of this law to turn in arms currently in their possession, and shall be compensated for those arms according to their current value.  Alternatively, they may choose to render these arms permanently incapable of use, and submit them to inspection after their disabling, after which they may retain these items.



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