Today we’re sharing with you a memo to NRA President David Keene.  He is a national figure who travels worldwide hunting and shooting, meets with government leaders, is on television and in the news quite often, and does it all without a salary.  He even dresses well.  And he did it all by misrepresenting one of America’s most cherished symbols of citizenship – the Bill of Rights.

As we have posted previously, those famous first ten amendments to the United States Constitution were drafted because of ongoing debate that in remembering British violations of civil rights there might still be too much power given to the new government without adequately addressing the rights of the individual citizen.  And thus in September of 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution to address those concerns.  Two proposed amendments were not ratified but the remaining ten, the first ten, are our Bill of Rights.

With rights come responsibilities.  It’s such a shame that so many given these precious rights fail to make that connection.  They don’t even take the responsibility to read what right they are assuming.  Unlike the wordy First Amendment which weighed in at a whopping 45 words, the Second Amendment, the one David Keene, his followers and most likely even his opponents, apparently have yet to read, come in at a trim 27 words (11 of them at three letters or less).

“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.”

Any English teacher worth his or her salt can tell you that if you remove the dependent clauses the intention of the sentence is maintained.  Let’s look at this sentence.  There are two dependent clauses.  One is “being necessary to the security of a free State.”  You really don’t need this part of the sentence at all.  All it is there for is to clarify why we need a Militia.  The next dependent clause is “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” is only there to tell us how that Militia might be armed since the government then hadn’t yet come up with the novel concept of spending a couple trillion dollars more than it has to buy things like rifles.  They were willing to let the people who would be drafted into the Militia bring their own rifles.  Sort of like if you were to enlist into the military today you’d bring your own Hummer or submarine. 

So we are left with, “A well regulated Militia shall not be infringed.”  And darned if it isn’t.  We have a great little Army in spite of what so many generals are being caught doing, a pretty good Navy in spite of what so many admirals had been caught doing, a high flying Air Force, well trained Marines, and a full Coast Guard.  All armed forces that make up our well regulated Militia. 

Maybe Mr. Keene doesn’t understand the word Militia.  It’s not something we use very much today unless the Second Amendment is being quoted.  That would be, “an army of soldiers who are civilians but take military training and can serve full-time during emergencies.”  We probably are more used to hearing it called the Reserves or National Guard.  They get their guns issued to them just like the full time military.

Now we understand Amendment Number Two says nothing about sport and hunting.  The framers of the Bill of Rights where understandably more interested in preserving the new country, not in either creating or limiting the first indoor shooting range.  Then hunting wasn’t sport, it was shopping.  And it was efficient.  One pellet, one shot, one rabbit, dinner.  The 18t century hunter hardly wanted to pump more than one shot into dinner.  They were all for getting more iron in their diet but that’s what the vegetables were for.So now that we have cleared all that up, here is our memo.

 

To:         David Keene, President, NRA
From:     The Real Reality Show Blog people
Subj:      On the “right” to own guns that shoot 600 bullets a minute, launching them about 30,000 yards or the equivalent of 30 football fields, driving each over 2 feet through a solid wood target and/or human being, from magazines that hold 30 bullets at a time.

Are you nuts?

 

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?