Balance of power: The Second Amendment and self-defense

By Charles Bloomer

Remarks delivered to the Prince William County (VA) Republican Women's Club, January 7, 2008.

"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."

The debate surrounding the Second Amendment generally falls into one of three categories – esoteric and philosophical, emotional, or practical. The esoteric, philosophical approach tries to discern the amendment's meaning by parsing and deconstructing the language of the amendment, by arguing the definitions of various words such as militia, "the people", or the meaning of "bear arms". Even the grammar of the amendment is analyzed – dependent clauses, independent clauses, even the placement of the commas. The case currently before the Supreme Court, Heller vs District of Columbia, hinges on the meaning of "the people", and whether the meaning of "the people" in the Second Amendment is the same as the meaning of "the people" in other places in the Bill of Rights. The Court's ruling will be interesting in light of a recent poll that shows that two-thirds of Americans believe that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right.

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