A Well Regulated Militia..

I got into a discussion with a clearly ill-informed anti-gun family member the other day regarding the often intentionally misused argument about the second Amendment and the phrase: "Well Regulated." 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."

First, I argued, the Second Amendment is divided into two parts: its prefatory clause and its operative clause. The former does not limit the latter grammatically, but rather announces a purpose. The Amendment could actually be rephrased; “Because a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

I recommended that she read J. Tiffany, "A Treatise on Government and Constitutional Law" §585, p. 394. She declined.

I went on to educate her that the structure of the Second Amendment, though unique in our Constitution, it is commonly included in other legal documents of the founding era. Particularly in the individual-rights provisions of many state constitutions, that often contain just this sort of prefatory statement of purpose. They are structured just like this, hence the findings by the SCOTUS in District of Columbia vs. Heller, and McDonald vs. Chicago.

Alas, my argument was lost her.. she remains a willfully un/ill-informed leftist liberal.