The Second Amendment is much easier to read and understand when the two extra commas that were not in the 1789 text submitted to the States for ratification.
"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."
This is the correct punctuation. It contains a phrase and a sentence. Everything after the comma is a stand alone sentence while the opening phrase is not a complete sentence.
Keep in mind that the Bill of Rights was written by men who had been at the Concord Bridge and Lexington Green so they wrote to protect the right of the people TO KEEP because British law required that "arms" be stored in government controlled armories. The Colonists could go to the British controlled armory and obtain a small quantity of powder, lead for casting bullets, flints [which were the primers of the day.]. The Senators and House members who wrote the Second Amendment were well aware of the duty of the People to sustain a free government, so they said the People could keep their arms everywhere, safe from government confiscation.
Then they wanted the people to be able to carry or bear their arms for purposes of freedom, self-defense, hunting [a required food source].
In 1939 the Supreme Court in MILLER said that the People when called to form a militia were expected to appear with their own private arms of the type currently in use, presumably so that ammunition could be re-supplied while repelling invaders. The MILLER Court did not have a trial record to review so they returned teh case to the Arkansas Federal Court for trial so the case could be decided. That trial never happened. But it was clear from the Court's comments that military rifle of the type in service were protected by the Second Amendment so that a properly supplied militia could form.
The United States Supreme Court does not have any investigators and does not have authority to pick a case for their review without an appeal by a party to a case. In the case of MILLER, only the U.S. Government appealed and presented any case before the Court.
In 2008 the HELLER case was decided based only on Washington D.C. law and there was no evidence about other laws or locations. The Court said that other laws should not be ignored based on HELLER until further cases were appealed to teh Court. That was taken as approval of gun laws, but that is not what the Justices actually said.
Two years later the Chicago gun laws were over turned by McDonald and the Second Amendment was held to apply to all 50 States. But even there the Court ruled narrowly and did not consider Miller again or look at the nationwide abuse that many citizens suffer in places such as California, New Jersey and Hawaii.
The Second Amendment is much easier to read and understand when the two extra commas that were not in the 1789 text submitted to the States for ratification.
"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."
This is the correct punctuation. It contains a phrase and a sentence. Everything after the comma is a stand alone sentence while the opening phrase is not a complete sentence.
Keep in mind that the Bill of Rights was written by men who had been at the Concord Bridge and Lexington Green so they wrote to protect the right of the people TO KEEP because British law required that "arms" be stored in government controlled armories. The Colonists could go to the British controlled armory and obtain a small quantity of powder, lead for casting bullets, flints [which were the primers of the day.]. The Senators and House members who wrote the Second Amendment were well aware of the duty of the People to sustain a free government, so they said the People could keep their arms everywhere, safe from government confiscation.
Then they wanted the people to be able to carry or bear their arms for purposes of freedom, self-defense, hunting [a required food source].
In 1939 the Supreme Court in MILLER said that the People when called to form a militia were expected to appear with their own private arms of the type currently in use, presumably so that ammunition could be re-supplied while repelling invaders. The MILLER Court did not have a trial record to review so they returned teh case to the Arkansas Federal Court for trial so the case could be decided. That trial never happened. But it was clear from the Court's comments that military rifle of the type in service were protected by the Second Amendment so that a properly supplied militia could form.
The United States Supreme Court does not have any investigators and does not have authority to pick a case for their review without an appeal by a party to a case. In the case of MILLER, only the U.S. Government appealed and presented any case before the Court.
In 2008 the HELLER case was decided based only on Washington D.C. law and there was no evidence about other laws or locations. The Court said that other laws should not be ignored based on HELLER until further cases were appealed to teh Court. That was taken as approval of gun laws, but that is not what the Justices actually said.
Two years later the Chicago gun laws were over turned by McDonald and the Second Amendment was held to apply to all 50 States. But even there the Court ruled narrowly and did not consider Miller again or look at the nationwide abuse that many citizens suffer in places such as California, New Jersey and Hawaii.