Letter to the Editor: Are we there?
BY Thomas N. Treue, McAlester
Sunday, January 13, 2013
1/13/13 at 7:51 AM
The Second Amendment is really not that hard to understand. From Wikipedia: "In colonial era Anglo-American usage, militia service was distinguished from military service in that the latter was normally a commitment for a fixed period of time of at least a year, for a salary, whereas militia was only to meet a threat, or prepare to meet a threat, for periods of time expected to be short. Militia persons were normally expected to provide their own weapons, equipment, or supplies, although they may later be compensated for losses or expenditures." From this definition, the U.S. National Guard is not a militia since Guardsmen are not required to provide any item of uniform or equipment, they enlist for fixed terms, belong to formal units and are paid.
An important point here is that, in order to serve in a militia unit, one must provide one's own weapons. Also note, in order to be an effective fighting force in today's world, one must have grenades, rocket-propelled weapons and, yes, assault weapons with plenty of ammunition in, yes, high-capacity magazines.
To lend further insight to the meaning of the Second Amendment I quote Thomas Jefferson, "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
Are we there yet?
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
