| Letters to the Editor |
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9 January 2006 Letters to the Editor Kansas City Star 1726 Grand Kansas City Mo 64106 Subject: Constitutional meaning Dear Sirs: A recent letter writer does not understand how the “unorganized militia” defined in 10 U. S. Code section 311 can be the “well regulated militia” referenced in the Second Amendment. The answer lies in dictionaries of the Constitutional Period which define the term as well-trained or functioning properly. It does not mean troops marching in straight lines and towing the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It refers to a people familiar with firearms. Everyone who has read Shakespeare knows that the language changes over time. When interpreting a Constitutional provision we must first understand the intention of the persons who wrote it. Scores of legal commentators, including some who loath guns, have considered the meaning of the Second Amendment, and determined that it protects an individual right to own guns. Kevin L. Jamison Attorney at Law |
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20 December 2005 Letters to the Editor Kansas City Star 1726 Grand Kansas City Mo 64106 Subject: guns & Constitution Dear Sirs: In the 17 December, 2005 edition a letter writer advocates adopting, and increasing, the failed gun restrictions of Washington D.C. He excuses this course by claiming that the clause in the Second Amendment “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Is really just an absolute Constitutional right to joint the National Guard. This would be a peculiar sort of right, rather oddly expressed. It is more likely that when the Founders said “right of the people”, they meant an individual right, as they did in every other part of the Constitution where the phrase appears. In this way they intended to form a “well regulated militia”; which is defined today in 10 U.S. Code section 311 to include the “organized” militia, the National Guard and Reserve, and the “unorganized” militia, which is everyone else. Missouri has a similar statute at RSMo 41.050. Rather than an absolute right to join the National Guard, the Second Amendment reflects the practice at the time the amendment was written, and current law. Kevin L. Jamison Attorney at Law |