Many gun rights opponents say that this concept is modern, that the founders and their contemporaries did not believe this. This is clearly not the case at all. Consider this quote from Noah Webster, that immediately predates the Bill of Rights - including the 2nd Amendment. Notice how it could have been written today:
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive." ------ An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia 1787)
Those opposed to the 2nd Amendment right often insist that the militia being mentioned in the preface, means that only members of an organized state militia are protected by the 2nd Amendment. Not only is this idea quite modern, it ignores who the militia were in the early history of the United States:
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." ---Tenche Coxe, delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress, quoted in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
The militia and the people were virtually synonymous at the founding of America though the Civil War and beyond. Consider that even today huge portions of the public are part of the militia under US law:
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
------- 10 U.S. Code § 311 - Militia: composition and classes
So even today, huge parts of the population are actually part of the militia, subject to being called upon in time of national emergency. Lest you think this impossible, remember that the U.K., under threat of invasion had to call up their unorganized militia after Dunkirk. I have pictures of the Home Guard armed with pitchforks - for this was all they had. Maybe, if they were lucky, each squad had one old shotgun. With these weapons they not only had to guard critical resources - but locate and apprehend shot down German air crew much better armed then they were. At least if we must call upon our unorganized militia, they will not lack basic weapons.
In addition to being subject to call in case of national emergency, having an armed citizenry greatly increases the difficulty of overthrowing the elected constitutional government. Consider that the two longest standing constitutional democracies - the U.S. and Switzerland - have one thing in common: an armed citizenry and a strong gun culture. Anyone attempting to overthrow the constitution of either nation would have to figure out not only how to gain control of the vast majority of police and military forces, but how to prevent a citizenry that is well armed from resisting. Today less than 1% of Americans are in the armed forces. Even if people bent on the overthrow of our government could gain control of all armed forces (highly unlikely since they are sworn to uphold the Constitution) they would still have to deal with state and local governments and an armed citizenry that outnumbers them about 50 to 1. The states could, if not taken over by the coup members - which is unlikely given that we are talking about 50 state governments, augment loyal national guard units and law enforcement with huge citizen militias. Remember that a significant percentage of these citizens have prior service. As we consider these facts, it is easy to see why the two Western countries with the strongest gun cultures and the most firearms in the hands of citizens have never experienced a coup - and almost certainly never will.
I think it best to close this post with a modern quote from 9th Circuit court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski’s dissent in Silveira v. Lockyer:
All too many of the other great tragedies of history — Stalin’s atrocities, the killing fields of Cambodia, the Holocaust, to name but a few — were perpetrated by armed troops against unarmed populations. Many could well have been avoided or mitigated, had the perpetrators known their intended victims were equipped with a rifle and twenty bullets apiece, as the Militia Act required here. See Kleinfeld Dissent at 578-579. If a few hundred Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto could hold off the Wehrmacht for almost a month with only a handful of weapons, six million Jews armed with rifles could not so easily have been herded into cattle cars.
My excellent colleagues have forgotten these bitter lessons of history. The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed — where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
Every so often, someone in the news media gets it right!
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