CSotD: The other side of judicial activism
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Signe Wilkinson comments on the latest school shootings, in a world where "school shootings" can be classified as "latest."
I like her approach, which avoids the self-important hyperventilation that generally follows these events, as Ruben Bolling pointed out a dozen years ago in the wake of Columbine:
By contrast, Wilkinson has been consistent and pragmatic in her approach, as demonstrated following the 2005 Red Lake shootings, which she conflated effectively with the Terri Schiavo case:
I will confess that I haven't read up on the Supreme Court cases to see how they dispose of the "well-regulated militia" clause, but apparently they felt the clause had meaning in 1939 but was no longer relevant in 2010.
I'm unclear on the details of their reasoning, but conservatives who, in principle, decry the idea of a "living document" that is interpreted by current thinking rather than the original intent of the framers, seem, in this context, to either fall oddly silent or to contradict their own judicial philosophy.
If nothing else, I suspect that a lot of the people who are currently advocating the repeal of the 14th Amendment don't realize it was the basis for the activist court's weaseling around the obvious original intent of the Second Amendment in order to write new law.
A lot of the guns used in these school shootings were legally obtained or simply swiped from relatives who owned them legally and who were not, thanks to the Supreme Court, required to keep them down at the armory of their state's well-regulated militia or even under lock-and-key in their own homes.
By the way, I'm not against private ownership of guns. I'm also not against private ownership of automobiles. But I'm in favor of well-regulated highways as a matter of public safety.
In any case, here's an interesting bit of history to throw into your next pointless argument over the matter, just in time for the current War of 1812 Bicentennial:
James Madison wrote the Second Amendment, which was based on the belief that a large standing army was a threat to freedom and that we would do better to maintain a modest army — which was explicitly prohibited from coming into town, taking over private houses and demanding to be fed –and then supplement that professional core with state militia.
The founders believed that the militia, being composed of regional if not strictly local residents, would fight heartily in defense of their homes, and also that they would not turn upon their neighbors and oppress them as a standing army might.
It was, and remains, a popular theory for those who fear a strong central government.
And who believe we won the Revolutionary War by shooting from behind trees while the British Army marched around in straight lines.
So the Revolution ended in 1783, the Constitution was ratified in 1788 and the Second Amendment, along with 10 of the 12 proposed amendments known as the Bill of Rights, was ratified in 1791.
And things were lovely for a dozen or so years, though Jefferson had to send our standing navy over to Tripoli to explain the concept of Free Trade to the bey, our merchant ships not being expected to maintain their own well-regulated militias. (Note: This was not the origin of the term "government bailout of private business.")
Then came the rematch with Mother England, and a chance to test that whole theory of standing armies versus a well-regulated militia.
At Sackets Harbor, Gen. Jacob Brown's militia was called out because, while the bulk of the professional army was down at the other end of Lake Ontario ransacking the Niagara Frontier, the British came over from Kingston to attempt to seize the American naval base, which, had they succeeded, would have blocked off the Great Lakes region entirely.
Brown positioned his large group of militia behind a much smaller company of regulars to cover the narrow shallows between the British landing spot on Horse Island and the mainland, and put another small company of regulars between that spot and the harbor and shipyard.
As the first redcoats came to the ford and began to wade across, Brown's militia opened fire with devastating effect.
Not only did they succeed in mowing down a fair number of British, but they also succeeded in scaring the hell out of themselves, so that, instead of reloading, they stood up, turned and ran like rabbits through the woods, leaving Brown and the regulars to hold off the invasion alone.
The regulars did a good job of holding off the redcoats, but the final victory was not assured until Brown and a few mounted dragoons went to the edge of the forest and began shouting with joy that the British were retreating, whereupon about 300 members of the well-regulated militia came crawling out of the brush.
Brown promptly ordered them to fall in, told them he would shoot the next man who bolted, and began marching them back towards the battle.
At that point, fortunately, the British commander — a product of purchased commissions compounded with the fact that any officer who could take five steps without tripping over his scabbard was in Europe fighting Napoleon — mistook the re-organized clodhoppers for fresh troops and, being already hard-pressed, ordered a precipitous retreat.
But that was not the moment that made James Madison — transformed over time from "Father of the Constitution" to "Guy Whose Desk Is Where The Buck Stops" — question his theory.
A year later, a force of 4,000 British was advancing through Maryland, until it came to Bladenburg and found itself face to face with 6,000 Americans — all but 400 of whom were well-regulated militia.
The ensuing battle, such as it was, has been dubbed "the Bladenburg Races" and ended with American militia fleeing through the streets of Washington, which at least provided The Wife of the Father of the Constitution with enough of a warning that she was able to roll up the portrait of Washington and scarper before the British arrived to burn the White House.
The Bladenburg Races have also been called "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms."
“I could never have believed that so great a difference existed between regular troops and a militia force, if I had not witnessed the scenes of this day.” — President James Madison
As soon as the war was over, Madison recruited General Jacob Brown to reorganize and expand America's standing, professional army.
And he recruited workmen to rebuild the executive mansion so he would have an office in which to sit and ponder his previous beliefs.
But the Second Amendment, despite its notion of "a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state" having been thoroughly discredited by its author, remains in place.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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