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submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by Wilshire@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 41 points 6 months ago

It isn't in there. What is in there is a legal provision allowing states to quickly raise an army to deal with a crisis.

[-] Aganim@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

I'm not American, so I could be wrong, but wasn't it something about a well-regulated militia?

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

It was, those three words aren't there by mistake.

Standing domestic armies were controversial at the time. They needed a way if a state was a facing a crisis it could grab a bunch of armed citizens, declare it a militia, and deal with the issue. Most of the signers were lawyers and they knew that there had to be a legally established procedure for this.

This is me being nice to them btw the issue was slavery and the fear of slave revolts.

And a few decades ago it got reimagined as a civil liberty. Which is clear from the text that it is not and is clear from the debates around the amendment at the time.

[-] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 months ago

I was always under the impression that the militia bit was because they didn't want the USA to form a government army. The army instead would be all citizens, armed, that would act in case of a national threat, then like... go back to farming or whatever.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah a standing army was controversial at the time.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

Regulation had a different interpretation back then. It had to do with training and equipment. It's why professional soldiers were called "Regulars." They wanted civilian militias to be equipped and have the ability to train on their weapons.

In order for civilian militias to exist, be effective, and be able to respond instantly the citizens need to have weapons.

Somebody who doesn't have a gun and has never used one isn't going to be effective in civil defense.

[-] hark@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Yet there is little to no training before people are allowed to own guns. Seems to me like it doesn't follow either the modern definition or the supposed definition of old.

[-] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Yeah, but dumbasses think that part is optional (not joking)

[-] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

WELL REGULATED back in the day meant something DIFFERENT then it does today! But ARMS back in the day refers to the EXACT ARMS we have Today!

this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
889 points (98.8% liked)

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