The future of gun rights in the USA will probably come down the how the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) defines the word/intent of MILITIA.
The lower court's recent ruling striking down gun laws in Washington D.C. does represent an opportunity and a potential threat; a redefining of the Second Amendment.
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MILITIA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, amended
The concept of the militia in the United States of America is a complex one. The term militia can mean any number of groups within the United States.
Constitutional, or unorganized miltia, which consist of every able-bodied man ages 18-45 who can be called into active service through congressional power and who, according to various militia acts (Militia acts of 1792, 1852, 1903) are encouraged to train in marksmenship with arms provided by themselves in order to prepare them for military service. (The Civilian Marksmanship Program, created by Congressional power in 1903 at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, is the only organization in which approved military rifles may be purchased without going through a Federal Firearms Dealer).
Select-militia, which originated in early State select-militia forces and the constitutional militia, consist of State and Federal militia forces, like the National Guard, which were created by statutory law rather than constitutional power.
Private-militia forces, which are made up of unorganized militiamen who have, on their own authority, organized into para-military organizations based on their own interpretation of the concept of the militia. These militia claim belief that private militia are supported by the principles of the common law of England (as found in Blackstone's Commentaries) and the intentions of the Founding Fathers of the United States (as found in the Annals of Congress and various publications of the period).
The English term "militia" is derived from Latin roots:
miles /MEE-lace/ : a fighter or warrior
-itia /EE-tee-ah/ : a state, quality, or condition
In its original sense, therefore, militia meant "the state, quality, or condition of being a fighter or warrior." It can be thought of as "the combattant condition", "the fighter frame of mind", "the militant mode", "the soldierly status", or "the warrior way".
In common usage, a "militia" is a body of private persons who have taken up arms to respond to a violent emergency. The act of bringing to bear arms contextually changes the status of the person, from peaceful citizen, to warrior citizen. The militia is the sum total of persons undergoing this change of state.
The early colonists of America considered the militia an important social structure, necessary to defend their colonies from Indian attacks. All able-bodied males were expected to be members of the local militia. During the French and Indian Wars the town militias formed a recruiting pool for the Provincial Forces. The legislature of the colony would authorize a certain force level for the season's campaign, based on that set recruitment quotas for each local militia. In theory, militia members could be drafted by lot if there were inadequate forces for the Provincial Regulars; however, the draft was rarely resorted to because provincial regulars were highly paid (more highly paid than their regular British Army counterparts) and rarely engaged in combat.
The delegates of the Constitutional Convention (the founding fathers/framers of the United States Constitution) under Article 1; section 8, paragraphs 15 and 16 of the federal constitution, granted Congress the power to "provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining (regulating/training) the Militia," as well as, and in distinction to, the power to raise an army and a navy. The US Congress is granted the power to use the militia of the United States for only three specific missions, as described in Article 1, section 8, paragraph 15: "To provide for the calling for of the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was intended to formalize this balance between the "well-regulated" unorganized militia and organized military forces. The Militia Act of 1792 clarified whom the militia consists of; " Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act."
During Congressional debates, James Madison was among the strongest proponents for the creation of a militia in lieu of a standing army:
The highest number to which a standing army can be carried in any country does not exceed one hundredth part of the souls, or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This portion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Besides the advantage of being armed, it forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. The militia, who are in fact the effective part of the people at large, will render many troops quite unnecessary. They will form a powerful check upon the regular troops, and will generally be sufficient to over-awe them.
Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as military forces, which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.
The purpose of the militia, as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution of the United States, can be further demonstrated by the words of Representative Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (from 1 Annals of Congress at 750, 17 August 1789): What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty . . . Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.
However, the importance of the miltia continued during the middle of the 1800s, as can be demonstrated in both the Militia Act of 1852 and the Morrill Act of 1862. The Morrill Act of July 2nd, 1862 provided federally aided land grants to colleges and universities. A condition of these grants included mandatory military training "in order to prepare well-educated men for leadership in the militia."
