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Old January 4, 2013, 03:15 PM   #39
tipoc
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Join Date: December 11, 2004
Location: Redwood City, Ca.
Posts: 4,114
I did not "rewrite history" but I was unclear. Madison proposed the wording I quoted above (from Levy's book "Origins of the Bill of Rights" page 144-45) as the original draft of his proposal for what became the 2nd Amendment.

But again, to be clear, the 2nd amendment did two things; it guaranteed the people an individual right to arms and it prevented the Federal government from unilaterally dissolving the state controlled militias. I pointed out earlier that the militias were under the command of the President and or Congress when called into national service. They were under the command of the states otherwise who were charged with appointing their officers, etc. The state militias were considered a counterweight to a professional standing Federal army in the debates of the time.

The constitution as a whole assumes an individual right to be armed as well as stating it in the 2nd. It also assumes boundaries on it as on all others.

tipoc
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