Living and Learning

The Unregulated Militia

America does not need a well-regulated militia in order to secure a free state, and even if it did, the people waving guns around and shooting them at strangers don’t even come close to filling that bill. America does have a well-regulated army, navy, air force, and coast guard. The self-described militia, on the other hand, is really random.

2nd Amendment Explained

2nd Amendment Explained via PBS

That well-regulated militia we keep hearing about, the ones that are defended so that they can have all the guns they want, those guys are completely unregulated. Generally speaking, they just seem to be frustrated, unqualified, and untrained. They work alone, and they don’t follow any known military rules.

Their regulation, if it exists, comes from miscellaneous guys on the internet who also hate the world. Those are the people telling these killers what to think and how to behave. They are, pretty much, conforming within their own little clique, but that’s not regulation. That’s peer pressure.

Even if there were regulations of some sort for domestic terrorists, these people aren’t well-regulated. That would suggest some measured degree of excellence and authorization by higher authorities. For examples, people who drive cars are regulated, but professional truck drivers are well-regulated. People who teach girl scouts are regulated, but people who teach high school students are well-regulated.


2nd Amendment Gun Rights from Stephanie Frey via National Review

The well-regulated militia is supposed to exist in order to secure a free state. Well, that isn’t working. This unregulated ragtag collection of misfits is not interested in the functioning of a free state. They don’t even know how the state functions. They are just pissed off about a whole bunch of things that they can’t change and so they are lashing out at members of the general public. Not the state, not politicians, not the system. Ordinary folks.

And, by the way, killing non-combatants in a peaceful assembly does not contribute to securing a free state. Quite the opposite. It makes us all less free. Some of us arm ourselves, some of us hide, and some of us engage in political action. None of those things make us freer. They detract us from the other, freeing, things that we might otherwise be doing.

If you would want girl scout leaders teaching you how to drive an eighteen-wheeler carrying explosives, then keep on defending mass murderers in the name of the 2nd Amendment. Otherwise, face it; you don’t want to be a part of a militia. You have other reasons for wanting to carry a gun.

Our political environment, in spite of all its flaws, still enables us to choose how our state is governed. That is what frees us. Just vote.

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