Now that Scalia has died, are gun-lovers feeling...

[jmg257]

71. Why would the 2nd be needed to give the states rights to form militias??

Last edited Tue Feb 16, 2016, 11:17 PM - Edit history (1)

"The Supreme Court has historically defined the Second Amendment as giving states the right to maintain a militia separate from a federally controlled army"

IF that was THE purpose of the 2nd - to give(?) states the right to form militias so those state entities could fill their constitutional duties, how the heck could the state militias be re-created into the National Guard??...Congress was given no such power.

IF that was THE purpose of the 2nd, why mention the rights of the people at all?
Yes, the well-regulated state militias must exist, they were "necessary", but the existence of the state militias was already mandated in article 1/sec 8 and Article 2...

"To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States"


The State Militias already existed, they were mandated in the Article of Confederation:
"but every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia"
and then given vital roles to fill in the Constitution.

The 2nd declared the Militias necessary, AND secured the right of the people to arms - at least for that purpose.