What Is The Interpretation In The 2nd Amendment Of The Term "well regulated" ...

[global1]

as it refers to a militia? Did our founding fathers realize guns needed to be "well regulated"?

[IggleDoer]

1. To an NRA member ...

... it means "ignore this."

[99th_Monkey]

2. I think you are onto something.

whatever they meant by that language, I seriously doubt they meant what we have now.

[Recursion]

3. AFAIK it's only been adjudicated in Miller

And SCOTUS only cared about it in so far as they said Congress could ban sawed-off shotguns because they're not something a well-regulated militia would use.

[intaglio]

4. Well regulated in this sense

Well trained, commanded and equipped.

[PoliticAverse]

5. 'well regulated' really means 'functioning well' as in 'a well regulated clock'.

So you could read the 2nd amendment as "a well functioning army of citizen-soldiers, being necessary to the security of a free state"...

[hack89]

6. Regulated in 1780 did not mean what it does today

in the context of the 2A it means well equipped and trained. In other words, they expected the populace to own guns and to be able to use them.

[global1]

9. It Would Be Interesting To Find The Dictionary Definition Of The Word "Regulated" In 1780.....

In a more current Websters - regulate is: 1a. to govern or direct according to rule; 1b. to bring under the control of law or constituted authority; 2. to reduce to order, method, or uniformity; 3. to fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of.

I think if the NRA uses the language of the 2A to favor their interpretation - why couldn't the language be interpreted in favor of those that take the side of more control over guns?

I chose to think that "well regulated" means 'to bring under the control of law'.

I'm surprised that the 2A hasn't been challenged that way.

[hack89]

10. Here you go - from the Oxford English Dictionary

The meaning of the phrase "well-regulated" in the 2nd amendment
From: Brian T. Halonen <[email protected]>

The following are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, and bracket in time the writing of the 2nd amendment:

1709: "If a liberal Education has formed in us well-regulated Appetites and worthy Inclinations."

1714: "The practice of all well-regulated courts of justice in the world."

1812: "The equation of time ... is the adjustment of the difference of time as shown by a well-regulated clock and a true sun dial."

1848: "A remissness for which I am sure every well-regulated person will blame the Mayor."

1862: "It appeared to her well-regulated mind, like a clandestine proceeding."

1894: "The newspaper, a never wanting adjunct to every well-regulated American embryo city."

The phrase "well-regulated" was in common use long before 1789, and remained so for a century thereafter. It referred to the property of something being in proper working order. Something that was well-regulated was calibrated correctly, functioning as expected. Establishing government oversight of the people's arms was not only not the intent in using the phrase in the 2nd amendment, it was precisely to render the government powerless to do so that the founders wrote it.

[global1]

13. Well In My Supreme Court I Choose To Define Well Regulated ......

meaning that guns should be regulated/controlled. So sue me. Merry Frigging Christmas!!!!! Ho! Ho! Ho!

[hack89]

14. Yours seems like a happy and merry world. Merry Christmas. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. In 18th century parlance

It meant military drill.

Militias met on average once a month for drill, some as few as four times a year.

[The Straight Story]

8. It means to keep your guns in working order

[CANDO]

11. I'm no scholar, but

Wasn't the intent of the 2A to serve as an alternative to the existence of a standing army? I've heard Thom Hartman explain this many times. He explains that the Founders saw the danger of the misuse of a standing army by an abusive government as to their looking for an alternative militia made up of citizens. The militia serving as a dual deterrent to both external and internal threats. I know the modern right NRA gun crazies have always believed that it exclusively meant a check against our own government. I tend to believe the dual purpose explanation.

[slackmaster]

12. It refers to a population of people who are able to defend themselves and their communities

With weapons that they know how to use.