Thursday, January 04, 2007

Some things are Self-Explanatory....

"The right [to bear arms] is general. It may be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. The militia, as has been explained elsewhere, consists of those persons who, under the laws, are liable to the performance of military duty, and are officered and enrolled for service when called upon.... [I]f the right were limited to those enrolled, the purpose of the guarantee might be defeated altogether by the action or the neglect to act of the government it was meant to hold in check. The meaning of the provision undoubtedly is, that the people, from whom the militia must be taken, shall have the right to keep and bear arms, and they need no permission or regulation of law for the purpose. But this enables the government to have a well regulated militia; for to bear arms implies something more than mere keeping; it implies the learning to handle and use them in a way that makes those who keep them ready for their efficient use; in other words, it implies the right to meet for voluntary discipline in arms, observing in so doing the laws of public order."

- Thomas M. Cooley, General Principles of Constitutional Law, Third Edition [1898]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "Fourth Edition" of Mr. Cooley's "General Principles of Constitutional Law" is available in an electronic version.

http://www.constitution.org/cmt/tmc/pcl.htm


Magus

E. David Quammen said...

Thank you Magus! It sounds as if Mr. Cooley was a man of great intelligence and wisdom. I will have to study his works further....

Anonymous said...

Also look for Cooley's "Constitutional Limitations". I found a downloadable .pdf from google books [http://books.google.com/], I don't have a direct link anymore but it shouldn't be hard to find. About a 43 meg file.

It's a serious look at the Constitution and limits on the federal government and the States.

Magus

E. David Quammen said...

Thank you Magus! Found it and downloaded it! Appreciate the heads up!