Founding Fathers and Trust in "The People"

Folks talk about "what the Founding Fathers intended." Fortunately we have a lot of writings to figure out what they intended, but I'm going to use just a couple of pieces out of the constitution to make a point here.

First, the Founding Fathers did not trust an ultimate authority. That's why there were States' Rights. That's why there were elections. That's why there were terms if not term limits. Schoolhouse Rock said it well with "No More Kings!"

Second, they didn't trust the masses either. The best proof of this is found in the Electoral College and Senate Election by the state legislatures. Yes, we have direct election of the Senate now, but individual vote is still not trusted enough to elect our President. Yet, in the beginning, the Founding Fathers didn't trust "the people" enough to elect the most powerful representatives of "the people."

Third, on firearms, the text reads, "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."

Let's do what nobody does, take this in order: "A well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state."

The constitution mentions the word military twice and militia six times. In short, the President is Commander in Chief and the Legislature makes sure the training and resources are in place for the military. Militia belong to the states and can be called up by the Federal Government. If the trained military isn't enough for the security of the free state, the militia can be called up to serve.

Well, in the beginning, the federal government had barely enough to assemble and arm an Army. Even as late as the Civil War a man could buy his way out of being drafted and the cash strapped army welcomed funds over the man in many cases.

The militia was necessary to supplement the Federal Army. They needed to be armed and trained so they needed to keep their weapons. Not to mention that on the new American frontier a gun was as much a tool as an ax or hammer.

To close that third point, we have gotten away from this original intention of the amendment. Don't worry though, nobody's going to take your gun. Anyway you can defend your gun with your gun! Don't sweat that.

Still, something the Founding Fathers did not imagine is a musket evolving into a weapon that can shoot multiple rounds per second. It would take thirty seconds to load a musket rifle. You didn't have to worry much about standing to reload though because of a musket's legendary inaccuracy. How accurate do you have to be with a spray pattern?

So, the Paul Andresen Plan- the purchase of firearms comes with a commission into the national guard. Make it happen during the background check. This way, even the purchaser of an AR-15 gets training! Now that's win-win! That is... if the Founding Fathers would trust them.