Friday, August 18, 2017

On the Second Amendment

As for the Second Amendment, its meaning is grammatically clear; it starts by stating that its subject is a well regulated militia.
The writers of the Constitution were quite literate; if the meant 'the rights of individuals to possess and own firearms' they would have said so. At a minimum, they would have said 'persons', not 'the people'. When the Preamble begins "We, the people of the United States...." it is an aggregate noun.
When they are referring to individuals, they use the term 'person', as in "No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years...", or "the whole number of free persons....".