The Second Amendment 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.” If the last part of that sentence, “The right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” were a separate sentence, then the well regulated militia could reasonably be ignored. However, it is not a separate sentence.
Therefore it prompt the question: What is the definition of a well regulated militia in today’s terms? And how can we build a gun control program around it?
Here is one reasonable and defensible answer: Today’s components of a well regulated militia are (1) our police departments, (2) our National Guard, and (3) our military reserves. Since the entire U.S. population cannot — cannot — become a well regulated militia, accepting this definition allows us to construct a rational program that could look something like this:
1. First of all, assault weapons will be banned except for the National Guard. People who currently own assault weapons will be required to sell them to the National Guard which will distribute them to legitimate military units where they will be used for defense of the country.
2. Anyone wishing to buy a handgun will buy it from a police department. The police department will be allowed to make a profit on the guns they sell in order to pay for the systems’ gun owners’ database. These individual police department databases will be collected into a full national gun owners’ database and maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. Following a background check, the police department will issue the applicant a gun permit.
3. The full national gun owners’ database will be developed as follows: In addition to the police department databases, the courts will submit the names of all convicted criminals, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service will submit names of all residents of the U.S. who are not citizens, Homeland Security will submit the names of terrorists and citizens who threaten the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government, therapists will submit the names of people who have potentially dangerous mental illnesses.
4. The names of the people in these categories will have asterisks by their names indicating that they are not eligible to own a gun. This symbol will not identify which of these groups they belong to, only that they are not eligible to buy a gun. The national database can be accessed by all legitimate peace officers.
5. Gun shops will sell only such guns as hunting rifles and shotguns, guns that normally shoot a few bullets at a time. This is a relatively simple program that will need further definition but could serve as the structural base for a gun program that hurts no one. Except for the assault weapons’ availability only to the National Guard, everyone will have access to their weapon of choice.
There is also an important function this militia can perform that is not being performed today as far as I have been able to determine. The above three parts of the militia would be linked together by a communication system that would allow them to share information about possible terrorist activities inside the U.S. and they would be prepared to respond to any attack on the U.S. by rogue countries. Each of the three units would have specific duties to perform: the police departments would handle local issues, the National Guard would take care of issues at the state level, and the military reserves would be prepared to go anywhere in the U.S. they are needed.
Clearly, the details of implementation of such a plan will not be simple, but over time the country will be well served by this “well regulated militia.” People will not feel as threatened in their homes by outside forces and the rationale for needing an assault weapon in their homes will be eliminated.
B.J. Mitchell of Tehachapi is a retired librarian.