Convention of States: Good or Bad?

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(09-19-2017, 03:08 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: But the historical context is also important to keep in mind that the Constitution was written with no intention of a standing army existing. The militia was the army, and so when we look at the intention of the Second we must look at it in that context. The existence of a standing army was seen as a threat to the republic. Now, I could argue that since we have that threat in existence, removing an armed citizenry (creating another threat to the republic) would not be wise. But there is a deeper philosophical debate that could be had there and this isn't the thread for it.

My main point in this response is that when we look at the context of the original Constitution, we tend to ignore historical context that would be in disagreement with us. This is why I see it as important we revisit the document thoroughly.

That's actually not true at all. During the Revolutionary War, they had the Continental Army that was created by Congress (hence the uniforms, official training, paid service, etc) under a central leadership. Then they had the various supporting militias which were the aforementioned random dudes, some of them affiliated with States, and some of them just truly independent.

While it's true that the Continental Army was not intended to be a standing army and was dissolved after the war, the Revolutionary War ended after 1783, the 2nd Amendment was ratified in Dec 1791 and the creation of a standing army (Legion of the United States) was in combat of June 1792, literally just half a year after the ratification. The Legion of the United States stayed around until it got renamed the US Army.

At no time did they ever look at the 2nd Amendment, realize it wasn't what they wanted to say now that the US had a standing Army, and change it. Most of them were still alive in order to know if that is what they intended or not, too.

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So since the US started in 1776 that's...
-8 years of no standing Army
-233 years of standing Army

Or thereabouts.