May 23, 2009 in Letters

Second Amendment updated

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“Well-regulated militia” does not refer to government regulation or membership in an official military. When Mr. Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, “well-regulated” was synonymous with “orderly,” and a militia was all able-bodied men. Written in modern English, the Second Amendment would read: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed because orderly, armed citizens are necessary to the security of a free state.”

Thomas Jefferson counseled that your gun should be your constant companion, and George Washington declared guns “everywhere” to be restraints against evil. Our founders had no notion of guns as a collective right.

Don Nelson

Spokane

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