According to Mark Knoller, White House correspondent for CBS News, if James Madison and the rest of the gang who put together the U.S. Constitution, had an editor, we wouldn’t be trying to figure out what they meant when they wrote the Second Amendment.
“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.â€
Point taken but I’m a realist so I have to look at this from my own perspective. Let’s suppose for a minute and I guess there is no more danger or fear of looking stupid than one CBS News correspondent by supposing something. Let’s suppose that we could employ the likes of Doc Brown and Marty McFly, jump into their Delorean and set the time machine to somewhere prior to the completion and signing of the U.S. Constitution. Let’s also suppose that one morning James Madison woke up and found a hand written version, from our House of Congress, of the Second Amendment as defined by “our society” laying on his kitchen table, strategically placed there by the two time travelers. He reads it. Can you imagine how it must be written and what he would think?
Once Mr. Madison gets beyond the, “Where in the hell did this thing come from?”, he’s is going to wonder what it means. Look, here’s my point. Mark Knoller says in his little blurb this morning that the way the Second Amendment was written is confusing.
If only they wrote in simple declarative sentences, we’d have a better idea what they meant.
It’s clear the founders were trying to pack a lot of law into a small number of words. But it gave way to run-on sentences and unwieldy grammar.
If they had written more carefully, we wouldn’t be going through legal agony trying to figure out the meaning of it all.
No question they meant well, but frankly, they could have used a good editor.
If James Madison picked up a 2007 version of the Second Amendment, you can bet your sweet, expletive, it wouldn’t be written in simple declarative sentences. Show me one piece of anything written by our host of mumbo, jumbo talking illusionists that is simple, declarative and easy to understand. Maybe we could send them also a copy of our tax laws. I bet they’d get a kick out of that.
For it’s time, I believe the Second Amendment was written such that every American clearly understood what it meant. So clearly understood what it meant that it wasn’t challenged until the newness of being a free American began wearing off and people began wanting to gain control over the people and satisfying personal agendas by manipulating the laws.
We must remember, Mr. Knoller is thinking that James Madison et al needed an editor to write more clearly. This coming from a member of a society who witnessed the President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton say in a “simple, declarative sentence, “That depends on what the definition of is is.” So, which editor or group of editors would Mr. Knoller suggest we send back in time to help the writers of our Constitution?
I think the Second Amendment was made very clear. It is only because we now live in a society that makes a living by twisting and manipulating every legal document ever written, mostly to better fit a progressive lifestyle. When our head lawmaker doesn’t know the meaning of the word is, I think the last thing our founding fathers would need is any advice from us.
In all honesty, I think our current slate of lawmakers could use some help from the founding fathers on how to write laws. And maybe while they’re at it, James and the gang could offer a refresher course in patriotism.
Tom Remington
