The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - How to answer Piers Morgan's question "why does anyone need to own an assault rifle"

**Aguila Blanca** · January 9, 2013, 02:23 PM

In pure Constitutional terms, the United States does still officially have a militia, and ALL of us who are male and between the ages of 17 and 45 are members of it. And the intent of the 2nd Amendment and of the Founding fathers (as was VERY clearly and explicitly laid out in contemporaneous writings by many of them) was that the militia -- in other words, the People -- should be armed sufficiently to overpower ANY standing army.

That's all out there, in black and white, and can easily be researched. The quotes keep popping up in these threads and can be copied and assembled into a single document full of supportive quotations. And the Militia Act (current version) is found at 10 USC 311 & 312: http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/10C13.txt

To faithfully follow the logic and intent of the Founders, it would appear that the Army should be getting the AR-15s and we, the People, should have the M16s and M4s ...

But to faithfully follow the logic and intent of the Founders, we would not have a Federal Department of Defense, and we would not have a standing Army (or Air Force, or Marine Corps).

January 9, 2013, 02:23 PM	#20
Aguila Blanca Staff Join Date: September 25, 2008 Location: CONUS Posts: 18,459	In pure Constitutional terms, the United States does still officially have a militia, and ALL of us who are male and between the ages of 17 and 45 are members of it. And the intent of the 2nd Amendment and of the Founding fathers (as was VERY clearly and explicitly laid out in contemporaneous writings by many of them) was that the militia -- in other words, the People -- should be armed sufficiently to overpower ANY standing army. That's all out there, in black and white, and can easily be researched. The quotes keep popping up in these threads and can be copied and assembled into a single document full of supportive quotations. And the Militia Act (current version) is found at 10 USC 311 & 312: http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/10C13.txt To faithfully follow the logic and intent of the Founders, it would appear that the Army should be getting the AR-15s and we, the People, should have the M16s and M4s ... But to faithfully follow the logic and intent of the Founders, we would not have a Federal Department of Defense, and we would not have a standing Army (or Air Force, or Marine Corps).