Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
The Dec. 15 edition included a quiz — “Test your knowledge of the Bill of Rights” — that on its face appears to be instructional and entertaining. But buried in this test is a misrepresentation. The sixth question asks, “The Second Amendment states that the right of the people ...” and the answer is “To keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The writer, Gordon Lloyd, left out the first part of the amendment: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” and he knows it.
This is one of the greatest revisionist hackings of our Constitution in all of its history. Some readers will look at that and say, “Well, there it is in writing.”
But that amendment was written when groups of families organized for their mutual protection because they lived in places where there was no police or army to defend them. They lived under the constant threat of organized groups, such as Native American tribes, or foreign militias, who could conscript them or kill them and burn or steal their property. These families formed “well-regulated Militias” to improve their protection.
An article outlining what gun control requirements really ought to be would list the names and locations of the well-regulated militias. In addition to the U.S. armed forces, every state has a militia — the National Guard. Their weaponry and ordnance inventories are a matter of public record and all of their members are properly trained.
