Shall Not Be Infringed

A look into the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution as written and intended by the Founding Fathers.

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. — U. S. Constitution Amendment II.

Let us begin with the purpose of the 2nd Amendment. Its manifesto is to maintain the security of a free state — security in its existence and its function. In a free state, a citizen is free to do as he chooses so long as he does not stop another citizen from freely making their own choices and taking their own actions. In a free state, an individual citizen is judged by his own actions and never the actions of another. In a free state, you cannot take away the rights of an individual without just cause against that individual. Threats to the security of a free state include civil unrest, crime, foreign powers, corruption, slavery, and tyranny. The United States of America was founded in the wake of victory against a tyrannical government. Tyranny is extremely difficult when a people can protect itself. The people need to be weak enough by either being outnumbered or outpowered by the opposing force in order for tyranny to succeed.

A secure police state is not equivalent to a secure free state. There are plenty of police states that are secure. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are good examples of slave states that were reasonably secure. In a police state, the government runs the people; in a free state, the people run the government. A police state can suppress your utterance of certain words or discussion of certain topics. A police state can compel you to speak when and what they wish. A police state can restrain you from meeting with certain people. A police state can prevent you from defending yourself against other citizens. A police state can inhibit you from defending yourself against the police state. A police state can search your property for evidence or contraband without a warrant. A police state can seize your property without just cause. A police state can make use of your property as they see fit. A police state can find you guilty of a crime through conjecture and without trial and without notice. A police state can try you for a crime indefinitely and repeatedly, if you’re lucky enough to be tried at all. A police state can torture and shame you as punishment for your crimes. A police state affords you your rights, and as such, a police state can strip you of any of your rights as they please. A police state can assume power over any entity within it. In a free state, the government cannot do any of those listed acts for they would violate your individual, civil rights — and thus it would not be free.

The 2nd Amendment does not alone define a free state. We have not just this one, but ten amendments to the Constitution, called the Bill of Rights, that collectively describe a free state. The Bill of Rights also illustrates just how fragile a free state is. If any one of those rights are infringed, all of them are effectively nullified. Each right in the Bill of Rights depends on the existence of the others; you cannot have one without the others and vice versa. They protect each other. The infringement of one right can be used to subvert the power of another and can slowly cascade to the point where you are stripped of all of your rights. As a free person, the Bill of Rights does not grant you these rights, but rather recognizes that you have these rights inherently and divinely.

The militia is an army composed of the body of the people. It doesn’t mean a military. It doesn’t just mean a National Guard. It means you and me and every law-abiding citizen. A well-regulated militia doesn’t mean that it is subject to be limited by laws. It means that it must be in good working order. For the militia to be well-regulated means for it to be able and ready to perform its duty — to maintain the security of a free state, the purpose of the 2nd Amendment. In order for a militia to be able and ready, it needs arms. It doesn’t need them tomorrow, it needs them now. It needs them in the hands of the people so that they may assemble when needed. It needs them to be openly available to all law-abiding citizens. The militia need to bear their weapons when required and use them to protect the security of their free state. A working, able, and ready militia composed of the people is necessary to such a free state — it’s stated plain as day. If the militia is necessary to the security of a free state, and the militia is the people, then that must mean that we cannot compromise, undermine, or weaken the power of the people to obtain, keep, and bear arms. This right of the people shall not be infringed, for to infringe on this right is to undermine the security of that free state. This right is absolutely critical.

The Founding Fathers made no mistake and knew the importance of a people to be able to protect itself from its own government. The next time a politician asks you why you need a semi-automatic or fully-automatic rifle, tell them that the reason you need it to is to protect yourself from a government that questions your need to protect yourself.

Shall not be infringed.