What is the primary purpose of the 2nd Amendment?

[sparkey]

I feel like this is more of a reading comprehension question than an opinion question, but it's amazing how many people get it wrong.

"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."

[brucejoel99]

Obviously Option 2, even if said primary purpose has been rendered moot by, y'know, modern times.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Number 2 is closest, but misses the point, as the concern was not tyranny by the people's government, but that the government might be suborned by a clique, faction, or party for its own purposes. Understood in its original intent, Trump and his sycophants are exactly the types that the Second Amendment was intended to provide a final bulwark against if they tried to act in an unconstitutional manner to the detriment of the people. Also, the Founders were decidedly naive in the ways they romanticized the effectiveness of the Militia, which helps explain the difficulties the United States had at the start of the War of 1812. This romanticizaion of the Militia is partly why the Constitution limits any bill providing for Army appropriations to at most one year, which if interpreted in its original intent would also apply to all Federal law enforcement agencies so as to prevent a would be imperial President from having permanently funded praetorians to enforce his will despite what the people's Congress might desire.

The U.S. Constitution should be interpreted in light of the British constitution as understood at the time of its adoption, with Congress in the place of the British Parliament and the President as an elected King.

[Karpatsky]

Clearly option 3 - militia was at the core of the country's mobilization strategy up to and including the war with Mexico. Also, it says so in the amendment itself.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Option #3

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Clearly option 3 - militia was at the core of the country's mobilization strategy up to and including the war with Mexico. Also, it says so in the amendment itself.

Maybe if it had said "security of the State" but it doesn't; it says "security of a free State". The Bill of Rights was part of the Antifederalist backlash against a strong central government which they viewed as inevitably having a tendency against the liberty of the people.

[MarkD]

To our Founding Fathers, most likely 2 and 3. But now the reason is 1 and 3.

[136or142]

Obviously Option 2, even if said primary purpose has been rendered moot by, y'know, modern times.

Great so all people who care about a free United States should march on Washington right now, and if Trump or any members of the administration resist being removed from power, they should be killed. That's literally what Option 2 means.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Somewhere between option 2 and 3.

[Epaminondas]

Perhaps we should keep an eye on those who posted option 1 - gun killers in the making.

[dead0man]

Perhaps we should keep an eye on those who posted option 1 - gun killers in the making.

how do you kill a gun?

[Yellowhammer]

Perhaps we should keep an eye on those who posted option 1 - gun killers in the making.

Both #1 and #2 are true -- I voted #2.

[McNukes™ #NYCMMWasAHero]

1-3 are all correct.

[fhtagn]

1-3 are all correct.

[Vosem]

Three is the most correct, but all of 1-4 would've been seen as pretty natural corollaries of it.

Perhaps we should keep an eye on those who posted option 1 - gun killers in the making.

The Afghans resisted the US army with 1890s Nagants, and many more modern guns are even more resilient. Killing guns is very hard.

[Orser67]

Voted option 3, but it's worth noting that for Madison and some other federalists (the group that supported ratification of the Constitution, not the later political party), the primary purpose was to prevent more far-reaching reforms to the basic structure of government established by the Constitutional Convention. The Bill of Rights was then largely forgotten until the Supreme Court began incorporating it to apply to state governments in the 1920s.