{"id":66855,"date":"2015-10-20T10:44:39","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/second-amendment-conservapedia\/"},"modified":"2015-10-20T10:44:39","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:44:39","slug":"second-amendment-conservapedia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/second-amendment-2\/second-amendment-conservapedia\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Amendment &#8211; Conservapedia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>    See also gun    control.  <\/p>\n<p>    The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution    states:[1]  <\/p>\n<p>    For several decades, the lower federal courts had interpreted    the Second Amendment as protecting merely a collective right of    state militias.[2] However, the U.S Supreme Court has always called it an    individual right. The 2008 Supreme Court decision of District    of Columbia v. Heller ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment    protects an individual right.  <\/p>\n<p>    In 1786, the United States existed as a loose    national government under the Articles of Confederation. This    confederation was perceived to have several weaknesses, among    which was the inability to mount a Federal military response to    an armed uprising in western Massachusetts known as Shays'    Rebellion.  <\/p>\n<p>    In 1787, to address these weaknesses, the Constitutional Convention was    held with the idea of amending the Articles. When the    convention ended with a proposed Constitution, those who debated the    ratification of the Constitution divided into two camps; the    Federalists (who supported ratification of    the Constitution) and the Anti-Federalists (who opposed it).  <\/p>\n<p>    Among their objections to the Constitution, anti-Federalists    feared a standing army that could eventually endanger democracy and civil liberties.    Although the anti-Federalists were unsuccessful at blocking    ratification of the Constitution, through the Massachusetts    Compromise they insured that a Bill of Rights would be made, which would    provide constitutional guarantees against taking away certain    rights.  <\/p>\n<p>    One of those rights was the right to bear arms. This was    intended to prevent the Federal Government from taking away the    ability of the states to raise an army and defend itself and    arguably to prevent them from taking away from individuals the    ability to bear arms.  <\/p>\n<p>    The meaning of this amendment is controversial with respect to    gun control.  <\/p>\n<p>    The National Rifle Association,    which supports gun rights, has a stone plaque in front of its    headquarters bearing the words \"The right of the people to keep    and bear arms shall not be infringed.\" The slogan means that    individual citizens have the right to own and use guns.  <\/p>\n<p>    American law has always said that the militia includes ordinary    private citizens, and gun rights advocates say that the    amendment means individuals have the right to own and use guns.    Gun control advocates began in the late 20th century to say it    means only that there is only some sort of collective or    state-controlled right.  <\/p>\n<p>    Supreme    Court opinions have all been consistent with the individual    rights interpretation of the Second Amendment, but the lower    court opinions are mixed.  <\/p>\n<p>    As of 2007, people argue about the meaning of the Second    Amendment, but there is no definitive answer. The latest ruling    is Parker v District of Columbia, in which the DC Circuit court    of appeals ruled on March 9, 2007 that the DC gun ban    violated individual rights under the Second Amendment.  <\/p>\n<p>    The One Comma vs. The Three Comma Debate  <\/p>\n<p>    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.'''''  <\/p>\n<p>    Quoted from: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerepublic.com\/forum\/a39388c210c1b.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.freerepublic.com\/forum\/a39388c210c1b.htm<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>    Down to the Last Second (Amendment)  <\/p>\n<p>    Participants in the various debates on firearms, crime, and    constitutional law may have noticed that the Second Amendment    is often quoted differently by those involved. The two main    variations differ in punctuation- specifically, in the number    of commas used to separate those twenty-seven words. But which    is the correct one? The answer to this question must be found    in official records from the early days of the republic.    Therefore, a look into the progression of this declaratory and    restrictive clause from its inception to its final form is in    order.  <\/p>\n<p>    Before beginning, one must note that common nouns, like \"state\"    and \"people,\" were often capitalized in official and unofficial    documents of the era. Also, an obsolete formation of the letter    s used to indicate the long s sound was in common usage. The    long 's' is subject to confusion with the lower case 'f'    ,therefore, Congress\" is sometimes spelled as \"Congrefs,\" as is    the case in the parchment copy of the Bill of Rights displayed    by the National Archives. The quotations listed here are    accurate. With the exception of the omission of quotations    marks, versions of what is now known as the Second Amendment in    boldface appear with the exact spelling, capitalization, and    punctuation as the cited originals.  <\/p>\n<p>    During ratification debates on the Constitution in the state    conventions, several states proposed amendments to that    charter. Anti-Federalist opposition to ratification was    particularly strong in the key states of New York and Virginia,    and one of their main grievances was that the Constitution    lacked a declaration of rights. During the ratification    process, Federalist James Madison became a champion of such a    declaration, and so it fell to him, as a member of the 1st    Congress, to write one. On June 8, 1789, Madison introduced his    declaration of rights on the floor of the House. One of its    articles read:  <\/p>\n<p>    The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be    infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the    best security of a free country: but no person religiously    scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render    military service in person.1  <\/p>\n<p>    On July 21, John Vining of Delaware was appointed to chair a    select committee of eleven to review, and make a report on, the    subject of amendments to the Constitution. Each committeeman    represented one of the eleven states (Rhode Island and North    Carolina had not ratified the Constitution at that time), with    James Madison representing Virginia. Unfortunately, no record    of the committee's proceedings is known to exist. Seven days    later, Vining duly issued the report, one of the amendments    reading:  <\/p>\n<p>    A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people,    being the best security of a free State, the right of the    people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but no    person religiously scrupulous shall be compelled to bear arms.    2  <\/p>\n<p>    In debates on the House floor, some congressmen, notably    Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Thomas Scott of    Pennsylvania, objected to the conscientious objector clause in    the fifth article. They expressed concerns that a future    Congress might declare the people religiously scrupulous in a    bid to disarm them, and that such persons could not be called    up for military duty. However, motions to strike the clause    were not carried. On August 21, the House enumerated the    Amendments as modified, with the fifth article listed as    follows:  <\/p>\n<p>    5. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the    People, being the best security of a free State, the right of    the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no    one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled    to render military service in person. 3  <\/p>\n<p>    Finally, on August 24, the House of Representatives passed its    proposals for amendments to the Constitution and sent them to    the Senate for their consideration. The next day, the Senate    entered the document into their official journal. The Senate    Journal shows Article the Fifth as:  <\/p>\n<p>    Art. V. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the    people, being the best security of a free state, the right of    the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but    no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be    compelled to render military service in person. 4  <\/p>\n<p>    On September 4, the Senate debated the amendments proposed by    the House, and the conscientious objector clause was quickly    stricken. Sadly, these debates were held in secret, so records    of them do not exist. The Senators agreed to accept Article the    Fifth in this form:  <\/p>\n<p>    ...a well regulated militia, being the best security of a free    state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall net    be infringed. 5  <\/p>\n<p>    In further debates on September 9, the Senate agreed to strike    the words, \"the best,\" and replace them with, \"necessary to    the.\" Since the third and fourth articles had been combined,    the Senators also agreed to rename the amendment as Article the    Fourth. The Senate Journal that day carried the article without    the word, \"best,\" but also without the replacements, \"necessary    to.\" Note that the extraneous commas have been omitted:  <\/p>\n<p>    A well regulated militia being the security of a free state,    the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be    infringed. 6  <\/p>\n<p>    With two-thirds of the Senate concurring on the proposed    amendments, they were sent back to the House for the    Representatives' perusal. On September 21, the House notified    the Senate that it agreed to some of their amendments, but not    all of them. However, they agreed to Article the Fourth in its    entirety:  <\/p>\n<p>    Resolved, That this House doth agree to the second, fourth,    eighth, twelfth, thirteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth,    twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth amendments... 7  <\/p>\n<p>    By September 25, the Congress had resolved all differences    pertaining to the proposed amendments to the Constitution. On    that day, a Clerk of the House, William Lambert, put what is    now known as the Bill of Rights to parchment. Three days later,    it was signed by the Speaker of the House, Frederick Augustus    Muhlenberg, and the President of the Senate, Vice President    John Adams. This parchment copy is held by the National    Archives and Records Administration, and shows the following    version of the fourth article:  <\/p>\n<p>    Article the Fourth. 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. 8  <\/p>\n<p>    The above version is used almost exclusively today, but aside    from the parchment copy, the author was unable to find any    other official documents from that era which carry the    amendment with the extra commas. In fact, in the appendix of    the Senate Journal, Article the Fourth is entered as reading:  <\/p>\n<p>    Art. IV. 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.9  <\/p>\n<p>    Also, the Annals of Congress, formally called The Debates and    Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, show the    proposed amendment as follows:  <\/p>\n<p>    Article the Fourth. 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.10  <\/p>\n<p>    Further, once two-thirds of both chambers of the Congress    agreed to the proposed amendments, the House passed a resolve    to request that the President send copies of them to the    governors of the eleven states in the Union, and to those of    Rhode Island and North Carolina. The Senate concurred on    September 26, as recorded in their journal:  <\/p>\n<p>    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the    United States of America in Congress assembled, That the    President of the United States be requested to transmit to the    executives of the United States, which have ratified the    constitution copies of the amendments proposed by Congress, to    be added thereto; and like copies to the executives of the    states of Rhode Island and North Carolina.11  <\/p>\n<p>    Fortunately, an original copy of the amendments proposed by the    Congress, and sent to the State of Rhode Island and the    Providence Plantations, does survive. Certified as a true copy    by Assembly Secretary Henry Ward, it reads in part:  <\/p>\n<p>    Article the Fourth, --A well regulated Militia being neceffary    to the Security of a free State, the Right of the People to    keep and bear Arms fhall not be infringed. 12  <\/p>\n<p>    And so, the proposed amendments to the Constitution were sent    to the states for ratification. When notifying the President    that their legislatures or conventions had ratified some or all    of the proposed amendments, some states attached certified    copies of them. New York, Maryland, South Carolina, and Rhode    Island notified the general government that they had ratified    the fourth amendment in this form:  <\/p>\n<p>    Article the Fourth. 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. 13  <\/p>\n<p>    Articles the First and Second were not ratified by the required    three-fourths of the states, but by December 15, 1791, the last    ten articles were. These, of course, are now known as the Bill    of Rights. Renumbering the amendments was required since the    first two had not been ratified. The 1796 revision of The    Federalist on the New Constitution reflects the change as such:  <\/p>\n<p>    ARTICLE THE SECOND  <\/p>\n<p>    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.14  <\/p>\n<p>    This version is carried throughout the 19th Century, in such    legal treatises as Joseph Story's Commentaries on the    Constitution of the United States (1833) and Thomas Cooley's    Principles of Constitutional Law (1898). It is also transcribed    in this manner in the 1845 Statutes at Large, although the term    \"state\" is capitalized in that text. The latter are the    official source for acts of Congress.15,16, 17  <\/p>\n<p>    This version still appears today, as is the case with the    annotated version of the Constitution they sponsored on the    Government Printing Office web site (1992, supplemented in 1996    and 1998). The Second Amendment is shown as reading:  <\/p>\n<p>    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. 18  <\/p>\n<p>    (The Senate-sponsored GPO site does carry a \"literal print\" of    the amendments to the Constitution showing the Second Amendment    with the additional commas. The punctuation and capitalization    of the amendments transcribed there are the same as those found    on the parchment copy displayed in the Rotunda of the National    Archives.)19  <\/p>\n<p>    Thus, the correct rendition of the Second Amendment carries but    a single comma, after the word \"state.\" It was in this form    that those twenty-seven words were written, agreed upon,    passed, and ratified.  <\/p>\n<p>    Why the Commas are Important  <\/p>\n<p>    It is important to use the proper Second Amendment because it    is clearly and flawlessly written in its original form. Also,    the function of the words, \"a well regulated militia being    necessary to the security of a free state,\" are readily    discerned when the proper punctuation is used. On the other    hand, the gratuitous addition of commas serve only to render    the sentence grammatically incorrect and unnecessarily    ambiguous. These points will be demonstrated later in the    Second Amendment Series.  <\/p>\n<p>    Footnotes to Comment section:  <\/p>\n<p>    1. Amendments Offered in Congress by James Madison, June 8,    1789. The Constitution Society. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/bor\/amd_jmad.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/bor\/amd_jmad.htm<\/a>,    16 January 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    2. Amendments Reported by the Select Committee. July 28, 1789.    The Constitution Society. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/bor\/amd_scom.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/bor\/amd_scom.htm<\/a>,    16 January 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    3. U.S. House Journal. 1st Cong., 1st sess., 21 August 1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    4. U.S. Senate Journal. 1st Cong., 1st sess., 25 August 1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    5. U.S. Senate Journal, 1st Cong., 1st sess., 4 September 1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    6. U.S. Senate Journal, 1st Cong., 1st sess., 9 September 1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    7. U.S. House Journal. 1st Cong., 1st sess., 21 September 1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    8. Bill of Rights. National Archives and Records    Administration. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nara.gov\/exhall\/charters\/billrights\/bill.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.nara.gov\/exhall\/charters\/billrights\/bill.jpg<\/a>,    22 January 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    9. U.S. Senate Journal. 1st Cong., 1st sess., Appendix.  <\/p>\n<p>    10. Annals of Congress, 1st Cong., 1st sess., Appendix  <\/p>\n<p>    11. U.S. Senate Journal. 1st Cong. 1st sess., 26 September    1789.  <\/p>\n<p>    12. A True Bill. The Constitution for the United States, Its    Sources and Its Applications. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nidlink.com\/~bobhard\/billofrt.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.nidlink.com\/~bobhard\/billofrt.jpg<\/a>,    27 January 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    13. U.S. House Journal, 1st Cong., 3rd sess., Appendix Note:    Maryland and South Carolina capitalized the \"m\" in \"Militia.\"  <\/p>\n<p>    14. The Federalist on the New Constitution, 1796. The    Constitution for the United States, Its Sources and Its    Applications. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nidlink.com\/~bobhard\/f16b1234.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.nidlink.com\/~bobhard\/f16b1234.jpg<\/a>,    17 February 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    15. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. The    Constitution Society. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/js\/js_344.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/js\/js_344.htm<\/a>,    18 February 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    16. Quotes from Constitutional Commentators. Gun Cite. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guncite.com\/gc2ndcom.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.guncite.com\/gc2ndcom.html<\/a>,    2 February 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    17. Statutes at Large 1845, 21.  <\/p>\n<p>    18. Second Amendment--Bearing Arms. The Constitution of the    United States of America.     <a href=\"http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/congress\/senate\/constitution\/amdt2.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/congress\/senate\/constitution\/amdt2.html<\/a>,    18 February 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    19. Text of the Amendments (Literal Print). The Constitution of    the United States of America.     <a href=\"http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/congress\/senate\/constitution\/conamt.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/congress\/senate\/constitution\/conamt.html<\/a>,    18 February 2000.  <\/p>\n<p>    Liberals have made various efforts to subvert the Second    Amendment by enacting unconstitutional gun laws which restrict    the ability of individuals to protect themselves against the    excesses of government. Examples include:  <\/p>\n<p>    See also list of    celebrities against Second Amendment  <\/p>\n<p>        Bill of        Rights:        1 -        Freedom of speech, press, etc.        2 - Right to bear        arms        3 -        Quartering of soldiers        4        - Warrants        5 -        Due process        6 -        Right to a speedy trial        7 - Right by trial of a jury        8        - No cruel or unusual punishments        9 -        Unenumerated rights        10 -        Power to the people and states<\/p>\n<p>        11 - Immunity of states to foreign        suits        12 - Revision of presidential        election procedures        13 - Abolition of slavery        14 - Citizenship        15 - Racial suffrage        16 - Federal income tax        17 - Direct election to the        United States Senate        18 - Prohibition of alcohol        19 - Women's suffrage        20 - Terms of the presidency        21 - Repeal of Eighteenth        Amendment        22 - Limits the president to        two terms        23 - Electoral College        24 - Prohibition of poll        taxes        25 - Presidential        disabilities        26 - Voting age lowered to        18        27 - Variance of        congressional compensation<\/p>\n<p><!-- Auto Generated --><\/p>\n<p>Follow this link:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.conservapedia.com\/Second_Amendment\" title=\"Second Amendment - Conservapedia\">Second Amendment - Conservapedia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> See also gun control. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states:[1] For several decades, the lower federal courts had interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting merely a collective right of state militias.[2] However, the U.S Supreme Court has always called it an individual right. The 2008 Supreme Court decision of District of Columbia v <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/second-amendment-2\/second-amendment-conservapedia\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94878],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-second-amendment-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}