this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025
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Liberal Gun Owners
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They put it in there because a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of a free state. Well, we have a military now - by far the largest in the world, in fact.
No they put it in there because slave owners were scared about slave rebellions. But let's not let that get in the way of stopping fascists.
I don't doubt that's part of it, but it's nowhere in the wording.
And you clearly don't understand what "well-regulated" or "militia" meant at the time, or any other bit of context.
There's 2 types of militia - organized and unorganized. Organized militia is the National Guard. The unorganized militia is every able-bodied man of fighting age, roughly 16-45 years old at the time. Note that the 2nd Amendment doesn't specify between organized and non-organized militias.
"Well-regulated" doesn't mean "organized". At the time, it meant properly equipped and trained. That means having a rifle, knowing how to use it, and also knowing how to survive on your own in the wilderness to some degree. All of these were pretty common in the early US's history.
There's also the broader context of US military doctrine over most of its history. Up until WWII, there was a very small standing army, mainly formed of a corps of well-trained officers (CO's and NCO's). The idea was that the country would hold a draft whenever war came, and that corps of professional soldiers would train, equip, and lead the draftees. Unsurprisingly, training draftees to fight is a lot faster and cheaper when they already have their own equipment and know how to use it.
The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is twofold. The first is to serve as a check against a tyrannical government by enabling an unspoken 4th branch of government made up by the populace. The second purpose is to better enable raising a military in wartime.
And aside from all of this, you are conveniently ignoring the second clause of the amendment: The Right of The People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. If you look at the structure of how the amendment is written, it's very obvious that the first clause is there as an explanation and that the second clause can stand on it's own.
And lastly, why are you going to a gun owners community to argue against gun ownership? You're literally going out of your way to start an argument. Get off your phone and touch grass