The Volokh Conspiracy points to a fairly even-handed New York Times discussion of commas in the Second Amendment.
In the comments, though, I found this:
“The question that criticizers like yourself never answer is what role the Militia Clause actually plays.”
How about this: the people’s right to keep and bear arms includes their right to join a (loosely) organized militia. Militia service would not be a prerequisite for owning a firearm. (Disabled folk especially must be allowed to arm themselves for self-defense.)
Enrollees should, I think, be issued at least a semiauto version of the current military issue weapon, if they do not already own one.
The vision that I have is high schools offering a voluntary Militia class, along the same lines as Drivers’ Education. This would include:
- A review of BOR law.
- Instruction on how to comport yourself during a police stop. (“Keep your mouth shut and don’t consent to any search.”)
- Instruction on how to comport yourself as a juror or a witness.
- Expanded Citizens’ Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, including firefighting, search and rescue, and first aid through CPR. Extra credit for obtaining a ham license.
- And the capstone: Firearms training with rifle and pistol, including self defense law, practical shooting exercises, and paintball battles.
All to be taught, per Heinlein, by combat vets.
Annual inspection and training musters, at which you are expected to bring your personal firearm and emergency response kit.
Of course, this earns you a spot on the emergency response phone tree.
And see Volokh’s own answer to this question, at length, here.
[update]Comments and Trackbacks disabled on this, my most popular post, due to evil shit eating spammers, who in my mind are simply thieves. Email me if you have something on point to say.
[update2]Comments re-enabled after linking in Slashdot. Add suggestion concerning issue weapons.
Tags: Amateur Radio, First Responders, Militia, right to keep and bear, Second Amendment
Great idea, Rickety. Sounds like Scouting, though with lots of extra nitrocellulose worked into the syllabus.
NREMT-B, NRA Life, working on my ham
Fuz
In the UK they have a Ministry of Defence sponsored program (called the Combined Cadet Force, or CCF) whereby schools, from the age of 13, voluntarily impart elementary military training, such as marching, weapons handling and field manoevres, overseen by army officers. It is especially popular in the top private schools (called public schools over there) and is one of the reasons for their superb officer class. Not such a bad idea.
A militia is a state-run army, subject to strict supervision by the federal government. So:
1) You don’t have a right to join a militia. Either of the Congress or the State can reject you for service.
2) You don’t have a right to start a militia of your own.
3) Militias can’t be ‘loosely organized.’
Gerber Baby apparently ate too much artificial color during his/her childhood and now has low reading comprehension. A “state-run army” is called…the Army. Militias are not the National Guard. And they’re loosely organized by definition…they consist of people with regular lives who only come together for emergencies. Sheesh, has SHe read anything about the United States before the 20th century?
Gerber Baby needs to rethink his position anyway. The National Guard, which some people regard as a state militia was established by the Dick Act, in 1910, because the Army had seen militia units cut and run where regulars would have stuck it out. It never was a State Militia and as noted in Department of Defense vs Perpich, it’s actually a Federal reserve, with command delegated to the governors of the states in peacetime. There’s a heck of a difference there. Then checking Title 10, Section 311, if memory serves, unorganized militia is defined as every able bodied male between the ages of 18 and 45. So, it’s not a matter of joining a militia, because you’re already in one whether you like it or not. That’s also why conscription isn’t involuntary servitude– Congress has the right to call up the militia and if you’re male and between 18 and 45, you’re it!
That said, the gungrabbers will actually make things worse if anybody ever gives in and lets them have their heart’s desire. When firearms aren’t available people improvise and the improvisations are generally far worse than getting shot is. Given a choice between dodging a bullet or facing say, a nail bomb, I’ll take dodging a bullet, since you can, if you keep your head about you, find some cover and dodge that. When somebody tosses a bomb into a crowd, everybody gets nailed and because of the irregular shape of the fragments and the fact that they each have more energy than a bullet does, combined with a higher coefficient of resistance going in, which means that more energy gets dumped into the target, the fact becomes pretty appearant that you’re chances of survival are better if the badguy has a gun than if he uses a bomb, regardless of type. And that goes double for firebombs. I’d much rather worry about a guy with a gun, than say, somebody who puts a can of kerosene and a bursting charge in his knapsack and tosses it into a building. That stuff doesn’t just burn, because the bursting charge creates an aerosol that makes it explode– a thermobaric weapon.
In the end, firearms are a casualty limiting option compared with the two aforementioned cheaper alternatives when it comes to lethal weapons.
I do have a question for Gerber Baby though. I’ve been asking it for around 35 years now and I’ve gotten an honest answer to it exactly twice in that time. Now it’s his turn. The question is this: assuming that you could get a comprehensive gun ban enacted by Congress, tell me which other articles of the Bill of Rights you’re prepared to surrender in order to make it enforcable. I’m looking forward to your answer.
One last thing. When you look at the numbers, it becomes appearant that firearm related fatalities are a statistical anomaly when you consider the 68 million gun owners in the country or the 280 million guns in private circulation. I don’t think that I want my rights violated over an anomaly.
In the end, it comes down to this: if you dumb down freedom to the level at which you’d trust the least trustworthy among us, the end result is that you turn the country into a big, open air prison, and I’d just as soon not have to live like that. People who do should get themselves locked up, while the rest of us take our chances in the big free world.
dr james king…
Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin…..
[...] Along the way bring the BATFX to heel, limit NICS denials to violent felons and adjudicated insanity (or simply accept that if you can’t be trusted with a gun, you can’t be trusted with your liberty and must remain institutionalized until you can be), and begin offering firearms training in high schools. [...]
Restaurant Recipes…
I’ve put out this recipe book, which purports to reveal the secrets of the great restaurants, but in fact all the recipes are the same:
1 lb. rancid lard
1 lb. dog shit
1 qt. horse piss
1/2 c. rat poison
tarragon to taste
Blend. Fry until smoke alarm goes off.
Eat and die slow, asshole.
Leave spam on my blog, and I edit your comment to my satisfaction.–The Chief Chef
[...] Here’s my take on militia training. I should emphasize that this training must be also be available to adults, for those who didn’t take the suggested high school course. [...]
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[...] be thrilled to see gun owners be licensed like car drivers: easily and ubiquitously, with minimal training offered by public schools, minimal background check, subject to revocation only after due process, and licenses from any [...]
Eric…
I?ll admit it. i have been to your blog SIX times since your last post looking for a new post?….
personally, i feel EVERY right under the constitution should be honored including the second amendment. where do you draw the line? it is very easy to scare people to give up their rights. but it is not so easy to stand up for the rights given us in times of trouble. i prefer to stand up for my rights even if ti means my life. which is why i decided to run for president in 2012 to protect the little rights we will have left then and restore others abolished.
Wow, this post is still getting comments. Thankee!
Personally, I feel it’s long past time the time when we need to stop concentrating on rights, and start concentrating on restricting the government to its enumerated powers.
“Rights” are a shell game. There’s always another cup for the government to overturn, and for us to find that there’s nothing underneath. And the table wins again….
Jack…
Ok, I’m not in complete agreement with this, but I see your point. Thanks for sharing….
Jessie…
There are varying schools of thought on your subject. I happen to agree with you – most of the time. Keep it up….
Eric…
Man, your mind fascinates me. Thanks again for sharing….
Cheap Paintball Guns…
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you….