Recently in another thread we were given a bogus Sam Adams quote "The said constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms" In researching said quote I found it came from "Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" Pages 86 and 87. There is no indication that it was Sam Adams who said or proposed it. It only says that a motion was made and seconded and the motion, or the quote in context, reads
"And that the said Counstitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience ; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms ; or to raise standing armies, unless when necessary for the defence of the United States, or of some one or more of them ; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peacable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances ; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions"
But the thing that caught my eye was this part "here unless when necessary for the defence of the United States, or of some one or more of them" Is Sam Adams, or whoever said this but a lot of rightwing websites are saying it was Sam Adams, is he saying here that it's ok for the United States, for Congress, to prevent people from keeping their arms if doing so is necessary for the defence of the United States? And if so what does that say about the theory that the chief reason for the 2nd amendment is so people can overthrow the government?
http://archive.org/stream/debatesand.../n109/mode/2up
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
