Maryland House Democrats introduced a controversial gun safety bill requiring gun owners to forfeit their ability to wear or carry without firearm liability insurance.
Introduced by Del. Terri Hill, D-Howard County, the legislation would prohibit the “wear or carry” of a gun anywhere in the state unless the individual has obtained a liability insurance policy of at least $300,000.
"A person may not wear or carry a firearm unless the person has obtained and it covered by liability insurance issued by an insurer authorized to do business in the State under the Insurance Article to cover claims for property damage, bodily injury, or death arising from an accident resulting from the person’s use or storage of a firearm or up to $300,000 for damages arising from the same incident, in addition to interest and costs,” the proposed Maryland legislation reads.
“Well regulated” does not mean now what it meant back then. In the context of the constitutional times “regulated” meant trained, supplied, and such shape ready to fight instead of legislated or controlled by the government.
You could also argue that the National Guard is the well regulated militia.
Depending on which modern definition of “militia” you choose, the National Guard either is one or isn’t one.
But remember that the Bill of Rights serves to restrict the government from passing laws that infringe on certain rights - so it doesn’t grant you and I rights, it instead prevents the government from impeding on some the Founding Fathers felt The People (white dudes) had. It’d be ass backwards to argue that the government allows us freedom of expression, for example. That’s a natural right.
Building on that, stating that the 2nd Amendment only applies to the National Guard is a shortened way of saying “the government may not infringe on the People’s right to have a government sanctioned and controlled branch of the federal Armed Forces.” Anyone with a cursory understanding of the American Revolution will know that this is not at all what the Founding Fathers intended the 2A to do.
Hello, I would just like to take a moment to say that while yes, at the time “the people” were only considered to be white men (and in some cases white landowners specifically), the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th amendment to the Constitution in 1868, shortly after the end of the civil war (1865), this has not been the case. We fought a whole ass war over this and won. It took a while and people contested it, yes, but now black people have the same rights as everyone else, thankfully.
This doesn’t mean racism is gone, but it does mean the words written in the bill of rights apply to POC regardless of what it meant at the time of the founding fathers. People often use their slave ownership as a means to discredit the words in the constitution and bill of rights, however I think it is more pertinent to discredit their practice of slave ownership and still like “all men are created equal” as a concept how it applies today.
Not to say you were doing that, but you mentioned it so I figured it’s just a good place to say “I for one am happy the BOR now applies to everyone, as it should have back then. Took long e-damn-nuff.”
Seems Oxford dictionary has taken it upon themselves to become a subscription based service so I can no longer access these historical definitions, but thankfully since this topic has already been exhausted someone else recorded a few on a site they host. These are still on Oxford I’m sure just behind that paywall if you wanna verify.
