Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: How is Meatloaf's 'Id Do Anything for Love' like the 2nd Amendment? [View all]jimmy the one
(2,717 posts)sarisak: William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of America 1825
Timothy Farrar, Manual of the Constitution of the United States of America 1872
Judge Thomas Cooley Treatise 1880
Only Wm Rawle should be considered knowledgeable of the original intent of the 2nd Amendment, the other two are dated & the dichotomy between the interpretations well established by then (1872, 1880) - so they could be individual rkba zealots by then, of which there were legion. So readers should disregard Farrar & Cooley, and any of the other hundreds of latter day aint's the pro heller people might provide.
Sarisak takes Wm Rawle out of context & quotes only a paragraph which appears to support the individual interpretation, but is based upon dialectic reasoning which cannot always be guaranteed as to validity.
Here is Wm Rawle in 1825 in fuller context, regarding the 2nd amendment. Not how often he mentions 'militia':
In the second article, it is declared, that a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state; a proposition from which few will dissent. Although in actual war, the services of regular troops are confessedly more valuable; yet, while peace prevails, and in the commencement of a war before a regular force can be raised, the militia form the palladium of the country. They are ready to repel invasion, to suppress insurrection, and preserve the good order and peace of government. That they should be well regulated, is judiciously added. A disorderly militia is disgraceful to itself, and dangerous not to the enemy, but to its own country. The duty of the state government is, to adopt such regulations as will tend to make good soldiers with the least interruptions of the ordinary and useful occupations of civil life. In this all the Union has a strong and visible interest.
The corollary, from the first position, is, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretence by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.
A corollary is something which is derived from a higher rule or law, enuff said?