Amendment #2: Guns

“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.” US Constitution, The Second Amendment, 1791
“Whenever guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns.” Yeah right, we’ve heard it all before.
Too bad, that quippy little saying really misses the point.
The View, that daytime girlfest of chatter, is a perfect wake-up call that not everyone has been reviewing their grammar school history lessons.
I happened to catch it one day when I was fighting off boredom on the treadmill with a magazine and a headset.
Elizabeth, the lone conservative on the show, is my TV action hero because she is bright, articulate, talks about motherhood like she loves it, and is outnumbered 3 to 1 by her more liberal counterparts.
When the topic was the right to bear arms, though, even Elizabeth missed the chance to remind America the real reason we should cherish the rights our forefathers established.
So why do we have Amendment #2 in the first place?
Amendments 3, 4, and 5 serve as a reality check.
Amendment #3 reminds us that at one time, the English monarch thought it was okay to force his subjects to house and to feed his soldiers, without compensation.
Amendment #4 reminds us that King George‘s soldiers thought it entertaining to bust in on folks’ private homes and search.
Amendment #5 reminds us that the king’s representatives in the New World had a bad habit of accusing folks, throwing them in jail, and confiscating their property without a trial.
Our forefathers were still in creating-a-self-governing-nation mode when they wrote the Bill of Rights. They were looking for ways to keep government for the people, by the people, of the people, as Abe defined it later.
They were creating not only three checks and balances to reign in government, but as many as they could think of, including a free press in the first amendment.
One balance of power was to ensure that government officials would be aware that every citizen was armed. That might slow ya down a mite when you are thinking tyrannical thoughts about world domination and power mongering.
Call me paranoid, but I stand with the patriots on this one.
Lately, there is talk about whether “the right of the people” refers to individuals or the military.
Really? We need to invest in history lessons for media-types.
Our forefathers were not worrying about criminals, although they had their share in a rough and rugged new country.
No siree. They were giving citizens the tools they needed to protect themselves from the very government they were in the process of designing. Just in case.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, welcomes comments at CaeKrafve2@aol.com or http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.com.