[Tennessee Gentleman]

Originally Posted by nate45

I believe that the founders recognized the very thing that you do, that a standing army was necessary to the security of a free state,

Nate, actually I think the Founding Fathers feared a standing army and preferred the militia as a way of keeping military power decentralized from the feds. Also, a militia was much cheaper than a standing army which required tax dollars and beaurecracy to stay maintained. The standing army really did a lot of housekeeping things back then. In fact West Point was originally a place to train engineers to be used for territorial expansion. Since threats to the republic were slow to develop they reasoned that a militia could be raised, equipped and controlled by the government and then used to defend the country. Saying the militia would be used for overthrowing the government contradicts Article One Section Eight of the COTUS.

Originally Posted by nate45

hence the second half of the sentence... the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed... not the army, not the members of the militia, but every private citizen,

I agree with this above but not this below:

Originally Posted by nate45

but they also recognized the potential for unscrupulous leaders to abuse the power of that military force. So to counter it they made sure that private citizens would retain the arms needed to oppose such a threat.

I think the reason for allowing citizens the right to keep and bear arms was for personal defense as Justice Kennedy questioned Mr. Dellinger in the Heller case just decided and to provide armed manpower to the militia to fight insurrections and foreign enemies.