Do I Really Have To Be A Member Of The Militia?
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 2 months ago
Via David Codrea, this bit of interesting prose.
… by requiring that every member of the militia … must own at least one long gun, one handgun, and 1,000 rounds of ammunition for each, or pay an annual $1,000 tax for failing to do so.
To which David observes, “I do have to wrestle with the coercive nature of that and wonder if things couldn’t be worked out more along the lines of if you don’t help, you don’t get helped.”
Um … hmm …, well, I don’t know. I’d have to think about that some. Not, by the way, that I have a problem being someone member of a militia.
My main point has always been that while I understand (and have no problem with) the invocation of the militia in the 2A, it was the closest thing the founders grabbed at the time. All they needed was one good reason, and that happened to be the one they wrote down at the time. The point wasn’t to write a treatise.
The right of amelioration of tyranny (whether a member of the militia or not), the right of self defense, and the right to feed your family without having to get permission to hunt “the king’s forests,” is God-given, not depending on the constitution, the 2A, or even what the founders wrote or thought.
The constitution is a covenant, an agreement, nothing more, and nothing less. It doesn’t guarantee anything, it isn’t the foundation for anything, and it isn’t the basis document for anything – except the vows that were taken on the part of the government NOT to interfere with God-given rights.
The People ARE the Militia.
TL;DR: My greater point is; don’t be found among the unable when God numbers His men. -To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; -To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; -To provide and maintain a Navy; -To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; -To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; [how is this accomplished?] -“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;…” Note that Part is capitalized. I’ve pointed this out before. There are 2 Parts, 1) in service(called forth) and 2) not in service but none the less armed. Which Part are you in? [Who of and by what manner is this militia at the ready?] As ratified, amending the last, above “clause” and defining the other Part (2) of the militia: 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. I’m not a lawyer and that’s a good thing because only a lawyer could make this complicated. We, in congress, are either called forth should need prevail, or at rest but none the less well armed. Those are the Parts, as amended. But, moreover, and at this point who cares what the government of the United States says, it and they in it are wicked adulterous whores of the devil. Here is your “milita” as defined by “case law” by Holy God: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” And when it is not possible? The LORD enjoins all that He commands! What does “Thou shalt not kill” mean, to allow killing with impunity? This is false. There are a great many verses in the Holy Bible about peace and indeed Christ preached for his followers to be at peace with all men. The question is, when a government or invader has an articulated plan to leave you subjugated regardless of if you are evangelizing for Christ or not, then what? Most bible verses about submission and peace are in the context of persecution of Christians for their evangelizing or just because they are Christian. If it were persecution of Christians for being Christian that’s one thing to which I do say, crucify me in the town square while I shout the glories of the salvation wherewith Christ has made me free. I demanded it! But it’s another thing when your government seeks general gun confiscation or to reduce all men to abject subjugation… Read more »