On Mar 6, 2012, at 12:29 PM, Charles Curley wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Mar 2012 11:18:15 -0800
> "Guy Smith" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> You bring up a good point. I'm now going to go out on a limb, not
> having read the article.
>
> The fact that Congress struck the last clause suggests a preference of
> some sort for defense over religious conscience.
Actually, it was the result of one of the few clearly documented ratification
debates. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (the namesake of "Gerrymander")
complained that the government might someday reserve to itself the authority to
decide who was or wasn't religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, and thereby
disarm everybody.
"This declaration of rights, I take it, is intended to secure the people
against the maladministration of the Government, if we could suppose
that, in all cases, the rights of the people would be attended to, the
occasion for guards of this kind would be removed. Now, I am
apprehensive, sir, that this clause would give an opportunity to the
people in power to destroy the Constitution itself. They can declare who
are those religiously scrupulous, and prevent them from bearing arms."
-- Eldridge Gerry (1 Annals of Congress, Aug. 17, 1789)
Curiously, note how Gerry, even in that early age, automatically assumed the
slippery slope from "compelling someone to render military service" to
"allowing someone to be armed."
--
Escape the Rat Race for Peace, Quiet, and Miles of Desert Beauty
Take a Sanity Break at The Bunkhouse at Liberty Haven Ranch
http://libertyhaven.com
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