“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
-Second Amendment
Many Americans in the 1780s and early 1790s believed – as they experienced first-hand – that governments used their military to oppress the people, and should only be able to raise an army when facing a foreign adversary. Otherwise the militia should be in charge of their own town, or state.
The problem is that militias were unreliable and varied in size and skill from town to town. Colonial militia laws required every able-bodied male to join, and also to provide their own weapons. Training requirements for these militias were sometimes just four days per year. After the American Revolution, the United States government reduced its standing army to a grand total of 718 men. The 1786-87 Shays’ Rebellion which, in part, set in plain view the limitations of the Articles of Confederation and was a key factor in justifying the call for what became the Constitutional Convention, leading to debates between the two main factions: Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
The Anti-Federalists preferred much of the government’s power to lie with the states, with a weaker central government. The Federalists preferred a stronger federal government whose power superseded that of the states. Having just experienced a war with England, who used the colonies to enrich itself – the epitome of a strong central government – the Anti-Federalists weren’t interested in replicating that governmental structure when given a chance to design a new country. The Anti-Federalists – mainly from Virginia on south – demanded a Bill of Rights in exchange for their ratification of the Constitution. Of course the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is [insert B-Boy Skeleton voice] part of it.
The Federalists were all for federal control of the state militias. The Anti-Federalists, as you may infer from their actual name, weren’t for a few reasons: They didn’t want the federal government to use the militia to oppress the states; They didn’t want the federal government to check out of its duties in maintaining the state militias which were, of course, the front line of defense for the states; They were concerned that, if the Constitution gave the federal government the power to arm the militia, the federal government would then prevent the states from arming the militia. It was a power struggle, and the Anti-Federalists had very well-defined trust issues. During the Revolution, though, the militias were unreliable, called “a broken staff” who had “an unconquerable desire of returning to their respective homes” by Washington. This was hardly a “well-regulated militia.”
It was the experience of many of the Colonists that a standing federal army was an enemy to democracy – a militarized wing of the federal government. A militia comprised of locals could provide a defense against the standing army. To them, a professional military was nothing more than a gang of mercenaries. You can trust Uncle Jack from the next holler over to help you repel an attack, but maybe not Atticus Standenberg (a name I just now made up, but will now use to try and get a fake ID) from Tarrytown, New York, who had never been to your state, let alone your holler. Militias were also used as a police force – a collection of citizens who cared about their place of residence who would try to catch a criminal in their area.
Anti-Federalists like George Mason and Patrick Henry were concerned that, if the federal government could arm the militia then it could disarm it, as well, allowing the standing army to overthrow the states. Thus, the compromise in the 2nd Amendment: James Madison gave the state militias more power (while leaving the question of who had more authority – the federal government, or state governments – unanswered) but did establish that the government could not disarm its citizens who provided the defense of their land.
The 2nd Amendment has two distinct parts: the federal government has power over the militia, but the states appoint the officers whom, presumably, they could trust to repel an invasion by the federal government. The Militia Act of 1792 made all able-bodied males responsible for their area’s defense, but they also had to arm themselves, since the federal government provided no funding. Because of this, and the rise of the standing military, states allowed their militias to fall by the wayside, good for not much more than an annual parade.
Clearly the role of the “well-regulated militia” has changed since the drafting of the Bill of Rights. So, too, has the technology of weaponry. When the Bill of Rights was written a typical musket held one bullet at a time and, if you were 18th Century Rambo, you might be able to squeeze off three fairly inaccurate shots over the course of 60 seconds (you’d be a “minuteman.”) because just about every Brown Bess and Charleville muskets didn’t have a rear sight to go with a front sight. They had a smooth-bore, as well. The difference between a smooth-bore and a rifled muzzle is basically the difference between facing Roger Clemens and a blind knuckleballer.
Dick Heller was a special police officer in Washington, D.C., authorized to carry a handgun while on duty. He applied for a one-year license to keep a gun at home, but it was denied. Heller then sued the District of Columbia for violating his Second Amendment rights. The result was 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller and the Supreme Court – led by Antonin Scalia – voted 5-4 that “militia” should not be limited to those serving in the military because when the Constitution was ratified the militias were comprised of all able-bodied white dudes aged 16-60. In 2010’s 5-4 ruling in McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court extended the Heller decision to the rest of the United States. These decisions are basically the basis of what the Second Amendment currently means to the NRA.
In 1840 the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that “a man in the pursuit of deer, elk, and buffaloes might carry his rifle every day for forty years, and yet it would never be said of him that he had borne arms; much less could it be said that a private citizen bears arms because he has a dirk or pistol concealed under his clothes, or a spear in a cane.” It’s pretty clear from this 178-year old ruling that “bearing arms” is meant in terms of military duty, not everyday/recreational use.
The National Rifle Association was founded in 1871, 81 years after Rhode Island became the thirteenth state to ratify the Constitution, by former Union officers who wanted to sponsor shooting training and competitions because their troops’ marksmanship was so God-awful. One official study said that for every 1000 bullets fired by Union troops in the Civil War, only one actually hit a Confederate soldier. For 106 years the NRA typically stuck to apolitical issues, like gun safety, actively advocating for gun control by supporting the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1938, and the 1968 Gun Control Act.
In 1971 an NRA member hiding a large amount of illegal guns was killed by ATF agents. Harlon Carter was a lawyer from Granbury who was hard on immigration through his years in the Border Patrol, which he ran from 1950 to 1957 and in 1954 Carter announced the “biggest drive against illegal aliens in history.” He called it Operation Wetback. At 17 years old Carter shot a 15-year old Mexican kid in the chest with a shotgun and was charged with murder, found guilty, and had his sentence overturned on a technicality. In 1975 Carter formed the Institute for Legislative Action – which soon became the NRA’s lobbying arm. Then, in 1977, in what Jeffrey Toobin called a “coup d’état,” Carter and the ILA overran the NRA’s annual meeting in Cincinnati (known as The Revolt at Cincinnati), got rid of the old guard, and pushed for a new interpretation of the 2nd Amendment: individuals, not militias, have the right to bear arms. Carter’s group won and the NRA has been pro-gun ever since.
Chief Justice Warren Burger – a conservative by any measure, appointed by Richard Nixon – described this push by the NRA as “the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud – I repeat the word ‘fraud’ – on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.” In a 1992 speech, Burger said that “the Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to have firearms at all.”
The NRA’s headquarters in the D.C. suburbs (moved there by Carter after The Revolution at Cincinnati Revolt) have “The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed” emblazoned on the building. The first half of the Second Amendment, however, is not.
In the 229 years since the Constitution has been the law of the land the debate over what the Second Amendment actually means has only been up for discussion for about 40 years. Since 1998 the NRA has spent over $200 million on political activities like lobbying and donations to political candidates on the state and federal level. Where they’ve had the most impact, however, is in revising public opinion on an issue that wasn’t an issue until 1977.
Sources:
Department of Defense Selected Manpower Statistics, 1997
The University of Dayton, Professor Vernellia R. Randall.
Journal of the American Revolution
Mount Vernon
PBS.org’s Gun Timeline
National Park Service’s 18th Century Small Arms Manual
Colonial Williamsburg. “Of Rocks, Trees, Rifles, and Militia.”
“How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment.” Brennan Center for Justice, May 20, 2014.
History.com: “Shays’ Rebellion.” History.com
Tennessee Supreme Court: “Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, Volume 21.”
The New Republic: “The Most Mysterious Right.” November 17, 2007
District of Columbia v. Heller.
The New Yorker: “So you think you know the Second Amendment,”
NPR: “The NRA wasn’t always against gun restrictions." October 10, 2017.
Politifact: “Counting up how much the NRA spends on campaigns and lobbying,” October 11, 2017.
