The Second Amendment ... Wait For It

Photo by DON JACKSON-WYATT on Unsplash

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." 

Is everyone discounting the first part of this sentence? It is a sentence, despite that awkward comma behind “Militia”. It means, in modern English,  that the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed upon because a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State. 

It costs $4000 to recycle ton of plastic bags worth $500 on open market.

Historical references and perspective lend credence to the idea that “State”,  in this case, is equivalent to “Nation”.  This was written in 1791, the year the Constitution was ratified. It was after the formation of the U.S. military in 1775, so was an additional precaution to keep the United States from falling into the hands of a foreign power. 

I don’t see any well regulated militia anywhere in the United States. Yes, there are militia, but they are typically sorry-looking fringe groups of dubious heritage and purpose. The whole Second Amendment has been perverted to accommodate those who like to make, sell, and use guns. Just guns. Not arms. Arms is what the Second Amendment calls for. The arms necessary to do what the Second Amendment purports to do, protect the state, is not available to individuals legally. To go up against a Russian T-14 Armata tank or a Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship you need the right equipment.

If you knew your neighbor had an M1 Abrams in the garage and carried a couple of Sidewinder missiles and a satchel nuke around in the trunk of his car, would you sleep better at night? Of course you would. Now slowly hand me that “For Sale” sign and take a deep breath.

Don’t worry. He can’t get a tank except for old, obsolete WWII crap that’s obsolete and wouldn’t hold up for more than 30 seconds in a modern firefight. 

That begs the question, however. Is the U.S. government in conflict with the Second Amendment for not allowing citizens to properly arm themselves for the coming conflict that our forefathers predicted the U.S. military might not be able to handle?

Yes, it is! After all, this is the land of the free and home of the brave. We should be able to buy our own attack helicopters, tanks, fighter jets, and bombers. The Second Amendment tells us so. 

Wait … there is a problem. Nobody can afford those things except for the U.S. government. Let’s just get straight what's going on here. The U.S. government buys all those arms that the Second Amendment says we should be buying ourselves. Furthermore, the government collects our money to spend on these arms. 

Paper bags take 5 X the water to make and 7 X the fuel to transport than plastic bags.

So, not only is the U.S. government unconstitutionally forbidding us to buy arms, they are collecting our money to do it for us in the most brazen, bald-faced practice of socialism on the planet. You must contact your representative today and make him or her understand that military socialism will not be tolerated on your watch. Either give back the money collected as if we belonged to an Israeli kibbutz or equally and fairly divide up the arms bought so far among all the citizens of the U.S. (I want an aircraft carrier - just putting my dibs in).