Security and the 2nd Amendment
By The Bakersfield Californian
The latest gun-perpetuated tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut should instigate some discussion regarding America's gun problem.
While some will senselessly argue that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of individuals to bear arms, this is simply not the case. The important part of the Second Amendment is rarely quoted: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State." In 1991, former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger famously described the NRA propaganda that the Second Amendment applies to individual citizens as "one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word 'fraud,' on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."
When the Second Amendment was written, America's military consisted of a citizen army that was less well-regulated than a regular army due to the fact that the citizens had other full-time obligations, like farming, that were necessary to the survival of their families.
Today, we have a well-regulated militia consisting of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, the National Guard, and the Coast Guard. Citizens who use guns to express their emotions clearly are not in any way ensuring the security of our free state.
Linda Schrom
Bakersfield
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