Can you be a Progressive Democrat and still the support the Second Amendment?

[guillaumeb]

75. A nice response. And polite as well. Something that is occasionally lacking in this venue.

As to the Second Amendment:

1) Your Founders made no provision for a standing army, preferring a militia that would be used for self-defense. (And slaughtering the First Peoples, but that is another matter.)

2) It was intended that all white males of a certain age range would be in the militia. Part of that militia was well-regulated. What constitutes well-regulated is discussed elsewhere in the Constitution.

3) Obviously at one point a standing army came into being. A prima facie violation of the Constitution, but the US empire required a conquering army. The militia is now known as the National Guard and as such is called into regular service at times.

4) The defense aspect of the Second Amendment obviously referred to national defense, not personal self-defense of every individual. Thus the wording of the actual Second Amendment.

5) As to fitness for duty, if fitness in a military sense is a requirement, I would suggest that a significant portion of the US population is too old and/or too out of shape to be fit for anything. Thus the age range limitations of the Constitution.