LETTER from PATSY SMITH
Constitution Gives
Us The Right To Do
What Makes Sense
To the Editor:
I’m afraid that Mr. deBlieck (Letter to Editor, March 19-20) doesn’t understand what the U.S. Constitution actually says and does. Like the power to declare war and raise taxes, the power to organize and arm militias is explicitly reserved to the Congress of the United States.
Don’t believe me? Read Article One.
There are no provisions that allow the “entire population to form a militia.” Moreover, the Constitution
authorized the militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions and not to “secure the liberty of the place in which they live.”
Don’t believe me? Read Article One.
Today, everyone has an idea of what the Second Amendment means – with many Americans believing that it allows a citizen to have any kind and keep as many guns as one wants.
Let’s start with phrase “the People.” Read the Preamble of the Constitution – it says, “We, the People.” The Second Amendment allows the People (a plural usage), not individuals, to keep and carry arms when serving in the militia. Period.
Don’t believe me? Read the Preamble and the Second Amendment back-to-back.
More to the point, Congress passed laws in 1792 and 1903 delegating the authority to organize militias (and after 1903, the National Guard) to the respective states but not to individual citizens.
Don’t believe me? Read the laws.
As to the kind of weapons, in my opinion, no one needs assault weapons, which are specifically designed to kill humans with a massively high volume of firepower.
I am not an anti-gun nut. When I was younger, everyone seemed to have a gun to go hunting, and many kept their guns strapped to the back window of their truck. No one was worried about that – least of all me. Even my family kept shotguns and pistols (with a license to carry). And no one was worried about that – least of all me.
But the gun lobby, especially the National Rifle Association (NRA), has gone far beyond the America of my childhood by advancing unrestricted gun ownership.
Today, why do you think there are so many guns?? I believe that it’s all about money – the NRA’s constituents are in favor of gun control, but the NRA itself has become a powerful and influential money-maker.
Guns are sold not only to our citizens (many – about 40 percent – without a background check), but they are also sold around the world to our allies and to our enemies. Oh, that glorious money!
Our country is awash in uncounted guns. Stop to think about the things in our lives that are so destructive –and big businesses and institutions (like the NRA) are the ones making money off everyone in our country (not only guns, but alcohol, drugs, gambling, cigarettes, and vaping).
If we enforced proper and effective laws that made gun purchases legal and fair, we would not have many of these problems. Too many people go underground for their guns – and therein lies one of the biggest problems we currently have.
Gun Control does not mean people are going to take away your guns. It means that proper and effective control over the purchase of weapons best serves honest and fair Americans.
Moreover, it also means that individuals respect what our Constitution actually says and not misstate the words for their own personal satisfaction and gain.
PATSY SMITH
Cooperstown
What an excellent letter. This was the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the law up until DC v Heller when they (Scalia) effectively ignored the half of the wording of the 2nd Amendment, disassociating the right to bear arms from militias, making gun ownership a limited right (keeping a gun at your house in the Heller case) not tied to the ability to raise militias. Ironically, Scalia was supposedly a “original intent” fanatic, and the original intent was clearly as Mrs Smith states – gun ownership was tied to the ability to raise militias from an armed populace. In truth, Scalia simply invoked “original intent” when it advanced his agenda, and ignored it when convenient.