Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Georgia's Law to Carry Concealed Firearms and the Second Amendment

The Washington Times says that Georgia Governor Gov. Nathan Deal has signed legislation expanding where people with licenses to carry can bring their guns in Georgia. The basic question is how does this relate to the Second Amendment to the Constitution?
The Second Amendment to the Constitution says, "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."
From a historical perspective, arguments involving people's rights to keep and bear arms revolve mostly about the preliminary term, "well regulated militia". The original Constitution uses the term "militia" several times, but the forefathers were concerned with whether such militias could be used disadvantageously. Hence, it was agreed that regulated militias should be available forl formation and that the regulators should be citizens keeping and bearing arms.
From that point of view, the only purpose for people keeping and bearing arms was to guarantee regulation of a militia. In the present context of our society, there is no people's militia. However, the nature of a militia is such that one can be formed almost at the drop of a hat, and that it would be formed from people owning arms. The mere formation of a militia is an automatic development of an organization. The key point here is that federal militias, such as Army, Navy, Coast Guard, are not "well-regulated militias", in the context of the Second Amendment. They are instituted by government which is only a secondary influence of the people. Conversely, a militia organized directly by the people qualifies as a "well-regulated militia". Such direct militias occasionally spring up, but are usually not significant. However, the Second Amendment basically retains the right of the people to develop significant well-regulated militias (nongovernment) whenever they wish.
Since the Second Amendment basically involves the development of peoples militias, the people need to hold arms for such eventuality. The question then arises concerning the control of such arms for other purposes. By the Second Amendment, the people need to have arms privately available, but do not necessarily need them for other purposes, such as defense of household from intruders, nor need to carry them concealed or non-concealed. Those applications appear not to apply directly to the Second Amendment. However, the public interpretation has required that such uses be considered.
In essence, Gov.Deal's expansion of where citizens can carry concealed weapons in Georgia is unrelated to the Second Amendment. However, the Constitution does not otherwise address the matter of citizens holding and using weapons. Therefore, this right of control is reserved to the states, and Gov. Deal is on solid constitutional grounds. He and the Georgia legislature can do anything they wish with respect to citizens holding and using firearms, providing the availability of such firearms is not infringed for possible eventual use in formation of people's militias.

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