Phil Brennan
Saturday, July 21, 2001

Who is a member of the "well-regulated militia" the Constitution cites in the Second Amendment? If you are an able-bodied male between the ages of 16 and 60, you are.

When confronted by the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guaranteeing the right of the people to bear arms, America's anti-gun fanatics falsely argue that the amendment applies only to militia men such as members of National Guard units.

In his extraordinary new book, "The Seven Myths of Gun Control" (Forum, 2001), author Richard Poe demolishes that argument so thoroughly that anyone who continues to cite it should be looked upon as either stupid, misinformed or absolutely dishonest.

You can count Clinton-era Justice Department lawyer William J. Mateja among those who claim the word "militia" as used in the Second Amendment means solely members of the National Guard.

Arguing before a federal court, Mateja distorted to meaning when he answered "Yes" when Judge William L. Garwood asked, "Is it the position of the United States that persons who are not in the National Guard are afforded no protection under the Second Amendment?" (That position has since been reversed by Attorney General John Ashcroft.)

And as one authority in opposition to this erroneous view he cites one of the nation's leading liberals, Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe who shocked his leftist comrades by insisting that the amendment means that every American has the right of gun ownership.

When he endorsed the right of Americans to "possess and use firearms in defense of themselves and their homes" and went on to maintain that "the federal government may not disarm individual citizens without some unusually strong justification," he set off a firestorm among his liberal friends and colleagues.

"I've gotten an avalanche of angry mail from apparent liberals who said, 'How could you?'" he recalled.

But Tribe was not alone among distinguished Americans such as the men were there when Second Amendment was written, such as Patrick Henry, who argued that "The great object is that every man be armed ..."

Or Richard Henry Lee, who said, "To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when y0ung, how to use them."

Poe cited a speech in the House during the debates concerning adoption of the bill of rights that sets out the clear meaning of the Second Amendment:

"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must occasionally be raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."

Poe explores the history of the militia concept, showing how it applied, for example, in the case of the Minute Men, armed citizens who formed the backbone of the colonial forces who won our liberty.

After the American Revolution it was understood that the militia - specifically consisting of men between the ages of 16 and 60 as mentioned above - constituted the force that would prevent the new government from becoming a tyranny.

Said Noah Webster, "The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the body of the people are armed ..."

During the debates about the adoption of the Bill of Rights delegate members of the Anti-Federalist forces demanded that the 10 amendments include one that would guarantee the right, as Patrick Henry put it, "that every man be armed ..."

The result was the Second Amendment, and its meaning was as clear as a bell - that all Americans have the right to keep and bear arms. All Americans!

Poe's book systematically demolishes the most prevalent myths used by the anti-gun fanatics. They are: