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Old Oct 21, 2006, 11:05 pm   #6 (permalink) (top)
gallo
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Posts: 2,044
For information as to what was meant by "Militia," probably the best definition can be found in the 1776 Virginia Constitution.
Quote:
Sec. 13. That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free State; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
The Supreme Court has stated that the militia is composed of "'...civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion..." In one case did the Supreme Court voice the opinion that the 2nd Amendment applied to individuals only in the context of the maintenance of a militia or other such public force. Other cases haven't been so clear. Nevertheless, the prohibitions of the 2nd Amendment are a bar only to federal action. But the federal government can and does restrict the ownership of "arms" by individual citizens, and does intervene in cases in which states and cities restrict ownership by citizens.


As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;...
--From Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli passed unanimously by the Senate 1797
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