Taking the NRA and Justice Scalia to school
Adrian Fontes is not only a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in Arizona and the former Maricopa County Recorder, he is a former U.S. Marine Marksmanship Instructor. He’s got some teaching for 2nd Amendment absolutists.
Any yahoo with a firearm is not a constitutionally authorized militia.
We all know its language by heart:
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.
But that amendment’s language, Fontes wants you to remind you, came after the U.S. Constitution had already defined the Militia’s place in the new country. Enjoy:
Article I, Section 8 is gospel for constitutional absolutists who insist that if it isn’t expressly spelled out in the Constitution (like Space Force), the government has no authority to do it. Here’s some of what it says Congress may do:
To raise and support Armies
But Militias are different. See Clauses 15 and 16:
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
“The Militia, in the context of our Constitution, is enforcing the laws of the Union,” Fontes insists. “They work for the government, not against some tyrannical fantasy government you guys are fetishising against.”
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
“You don’t just get to be a militia on your own,” Fontes says.
Article II, Section 2 spells out the president’s role. The army is not the modern militia; the national guard is:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States
Bookmark this for future use, share his tweet, and throw this guy a Scooby snack.
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