A Well Regulated Militia

Have you heard of this new thing we’re trying out called politics? Trying being the operative term. Other countries have been doing it for a while now, but the United States is kind of new to the game, not even three centuries of it under our belts.

I keep hearing the refrain in these midterms that Republicans are accusing Dems of being weak on 2A and that Republicans are strong on 2A. It’s a pretty cut and dry way to tell who you’re listening to on the TV at any given moment. I’m very broadly anti-gun (I’m generally anti-anything that can end people’s lives maliciously, painfully, and cruelly). Thanks to politics, it seems there are a lot of people who are pro-things that can end peoples’ lives quickly, maliciously, and painfully. Okay, different folks, different strokes.

There’s a cultural argument to it, that guns are a part of what makes Americans American, and some other stuff about it being baked right into how the country was founded so that tradition needs to be upheld. We need rifles to stop the King of England when he comes back at us with unmanned drones, fighter jets, and tanks someday because it’s all about knowing your terrain as Mel Gibson once showed us:

So, I get it. Here’s the thing about the 2A though, it’s first words- which I made the header of this post- “A well regulated militia.” For one thing, regulated is right there in the language, so gun restriction/abolition? Yeah, I’m willing to admit that’s a utopic pacifist pipe dream, a man’s allowed to dream.

However, gun control? Totally implied in there.

The other piece I really want to hit on is the militia part. Israel has mandatory military service for all its citizens, and that’s honestly a little terrifying. However, right here in our constitutional language is that gun ownership is aimed at maintaining a regulated militia. So, how about this: all you folks who want your guns because your precious flag/birthright/God given right? Have em, but you’re enlisted in the military or at a minimum the reserves for it.

I think this is a fair exchange, because it’s right there in the language and in the history behind the amendment itself. So, keep your guns, but be on the front lines of the military as was intended. Or maybe if you don’t want to be required to submit to a situation where your life is in danger, you can understand how the rest of us feel in a society with more guns than people and no common sense gun control laws. God bless America.