Federalism and the Second Amendment

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Audio and Transcript – It is important for you to know that the federal Bill of Rights does not guarantee you one solitary thing in your state, nothing, zero, zilch, nada, nothing.  If you read the presentation to the states to ratify that Bill of Rights, if you read what it was that Congress said when they passed them, if you read the preamble that was inserted into the Bill of Rights, it is clear, anyone alive at the time would have told you this, this would have been 100 percent unanimous, those ten amendments that were ratified were meant as prohibitions only and specifically at what the general government could do.

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  I want to talk to you Cam & Company NRA boosters and listeners.  Even if you don’t listen to Cam & Company, those of you that live, sleep, eat and breathe the Second Amendment, I’m speaking to you right now.  This is directed at you.  The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was contained in a submission of fourteen amendments that came from the State of Virginia and basically were the labor of love of Patrick Henry and George Mason.  I know that James Madison gets credit because he shepherded them through the House of Representin’.  That is doing grave disservice to Mr. Henry, because it became Henry’s reason for living, as the French would say, his raison d’être, to amend this monstrous new government called the Constitution before it got out of control and sucked the life and liberty out of every living soul that had to live under it.

It was Henry that moved immediately after ratification that the Virginians should start making their plans to amend the document, and they should do so in their legislature, basically using Article V.  People say an Article V Convention has never been tried.  Actually, it has.  There was a quasi-Article V Convention held in the State of Virginia in November and December of 1788.  There would have been a full-blown Article V Convention had Madison not been successful in guiding those first fourteen amendments through the house, and then another great Virginian, Colonel William Grayson, I believe, guided them through the Senate.  Both were passed.  Washington signed off on them.  They were sent to the states for ratification.  Ten, as you know, were ratified.  They became known as the Bill of Rights.

It is important for you to know, especially if you’re a new listener to this program, the federal Bill of Rights does not guarantee you one solitary thing in your state, nothing, zero, zilch, nada, nothing.  If you read the presentation to the states to ratify that Bill of Rights, if you read what it was that Congress said when they passed them, if you read the preamble that was inserted into the Bill of Rights, it is clear, anyone alive at the time would have told you this, this would have been 100 percent unanimous, those ten amendments that were ratified were meant as prohibitions only and specifically at what the general government could do.

So when you run around waving your Second Amendment, don’t wave it at your state legislature because it doesn’t apply.  It only applies to Congress.  So that’s the bad news for you.  You’ve been taught your whole life that the Second Amendment is universal and it controls every living firearm from here to Romulus to LV-426, all the way to the ice world of Hoth and then back to the Titan moon of Saturn.  That is incorrect.  It only applies to the general government.  Now, in this instance, this is the good news for you, that means that Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer and all the other schemers and connivers out to be impeached for even having a discussion over keeping and bearing arms.  They have no say so in the matter whatsoever, none.  The only power that they may exercise is an Article I power, which is over the militia.  That is the only power that they have.  That is the only power that they were granted.  Anything else, they have taken.  They need to give it back, obviously.  So your Brady Bill, all that crap is unconstitutional.

Here’s the power that they have: “To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces.”  If you’ve raised an army or put a bunch of ships out there on the high seas, yes, Congress can tell them what make, model, what size magazine, how many bullets in the clip, whatever they want to tell them about those that are enlisted in the land and naval forces.  There’s more.  This is Article I, Section 8: “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”  They can call the militia “To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia.”  The arming part is the key part here.  Once a militia has been called, then you can require or specify how it is to be armed, maybe what caliber it will carry, if you want to go to that extreme, though Congress never did.

Here’s the interesting thing about this. You probably have heard a bunch of libs, Bill Press and the like out there, and Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews, droning on about, I can’t think of the name of the act.  I can’t think of it because it’s so stupid.  When people send it to me, [mocking] “Mike, Mike, I want to see you shoot this down.  I ‘ve got a lib that’s throwing this one in my face.”  It’s some act about requiring the militia to buy guns or to have firearms or ammunition or whatever the case may be, from 1792.  People say, [mocking] “Chris Matthews said if they can require these guys to have a gun, they can make you buy health insurance.”  The difference is that it is enumerated in Article I “To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia.”  If in the providing part Congress determines you’ve got to buy X rifle, that’s a condition of your being in the militia.  That is not a general grant that Congress can make you buy something.  It’s just so foolish, folks.

So when I hear John Boehner has said, [mocking] “We can probably get a bill.  If we could get together, we could probably get a good bill together.  We could probably get something done when it comes to regulating firearms.  I’ll vote for it.  I care about those people in Colorado, I care about them, but we don’t have a good bill.  This bill is rotten.”  So Boehner’s out there saying we can talk about it.  Schumer and Pelosi and the usual suspects, “We need to have hearings on this.”  Hearings on what?  You don’t have any authority.  Colorado can have all the hearings they want; you can’t.  So be cheerful when you hear me talk about this.  You don’t want those meddling creatons in the general legislature regulating your firearms.  If it has to be done, make it as close to you as is humanly possible.  That way when all goes to hell, it can easily be undone.

End Mike Church Show Transcript

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