A Well Regulated Militia?

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What exactly is a "Well Regulated" Militia? Some of you may recognize that the Second Amendment contains the protections for certain rights of gun owners.  Yet many neither understand nor fully take to heart the first part, which reads, 

"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."



To answer the question presented, we must start out by telling you that there are several opinions as to what the meaning of "well regulated militia" actually means.  Some think that this means the Army or the Army National Guard in each State, which is regulated basically by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).  Others however, believe that this refers to the Militias of the Several States which are made up of all the people within them, citizen soldiers who are well prepared and organized for the exercise of their duty to  execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.

Here are links to some of the wide and differing opinions of how "well rugulated" in the context of the Bill of Rights should be interpreted:

Regarding that pesky term "Well Regulated" - Thom Hartmann
Well Regulated - The Electric Law Library
Various Opionions - Snopes.com Message Board
What IS a well-regulated militia? Daily Kos

These varying opinions exposed in the above links represent the views of American society on this question.  However we would like to simplify at least the historic context of the term when it was ratified by the States as the Second Amendment.

First, none of us could disagree that the term "well" means simply "good". Second, while some disagree as to whether all people or certain volunteers in the National Guard are the "militia", all can accept the fact that this is some assembly of citizen soldiers.

Finally, this leaves us with the ambiguation regarding the word "regulated".  We know that this is basically a verb or an action that is in the past, meaning it has been completed or has been done.  In the context of the protected right, its safe to say that "A well [blank] militia" is the resulting act completed by "the right of the people to keep and bear arms".  Hence, we must ask which definition of "regulate" would be the effect of the people bearing arms?

Here are some definitions for the word, "regulate":

regulate -Merriam Webster's Dictionary (transitive verb)
    • a : to govern or direct according to rule
    • b
      • (1) : to bring under the control of law or constituted authority
      • (2) : to make regulations for or concerning (regulate the industries of a country)
  2. to bring order, method, or uniformity to (regulate one's habits)
  3. to fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of (regulate the pressure of a tire)
So, how could the people being armed cause the militia to be governed or directed according to rule or law?  Well, I guess you could simply say that since the people are the enforcers of law, that the fact that they armed, would enforce that the militia is governed by the rules that they make, since they have the guns.  You might also say that we should read only that everybody should have arms in order to meet the obligations necessary should you be called forth according to the rules governing the militia, which makes it good.

If we consider the second definition, its quite plain to see how everyone having arms would mean the militia would be in good order and in fact brought into uniformity, as to what makes a good fighting force, being one which has the effective means to conduct militant actions.

The third definition could also leave you to assume that everyone being armed fixes  the time as while the Constitution is in force, and the amount being everyone constitutes what it means for a militia to be well regulated.

In every one of these definitions however, there is no doubt that it involved the people being armed, making it hard for any common sense evaluation of the clause that the government can pick and chose who can or can not be armed.  In fact, the words "shall not infringe" could never be more clear as to the intent of the Amendment.  Simply, that the government can not break this law.

So, if the government broke this law, the militia would not be well regulated, and the States would not be able to secure freedom.  Since the Second Amendment is well known to have the purpose of protecting rights, its practical to assume that those rights would have the intent and the design to secure those rights, and that rights are freedoms.  This Amendment therefore says that this freedom is protected by all of the people who can bear arms in order to secure this liberty, providing them with the capability to doing so.  This capability is what makes the militia in good proper order and uniformity, thus the riddle behind the meaning is fully resolved.

A "Well Regulated" American Militia is the entire population free to possess arms in order to secure the liberty of the place in which they live, in their own homes, in their communities across each State and ultimately encompassing the entire nation.

Without any Amendment to the contrary, this means that the militia must contain every person capable of bearing arms. Just who is capable or authorized? The people, which are every individual which make up each one of these United States, who in accordance with the rights granted by the laws of nature and force of arms may fully execute their sovereign authority over their domain to secure liberty, period!


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Shall Not Be Infringed: The New Assualts on Your Second Amendment


This book details the history of the gun control debate in America and a revealing description of how those hostile to the Second Amendment use polls, studies, and numbers to confuse the public. Expert pro-gun advocates David Keene and Thomas Mason tell the story of the battle fought in the courts, Congress, and state legislatures across the country as well as in the media and even the United Nations. Guns have become a symbol over which battle after battle is fought, all the while hiding the end game of a cultural shift to government dominance.