LAT's Gold jumps to Washington Post
Annual issue is out this week
The Washington Post reports today that a newly discovered box of James Madison's papers includes a set of earlier drafts of the 2nd Amendment.^^
The texts and the extensive marginalia together indicate that the founding fathers engaged in intensive debates over the exact wording, and that they considered at least ten alternate versions before they settled on the final text. The papers will go on display at the Library of Congress in March 2011.
Legal scholars have only begun to consider what light the papers might shed on the framers' intent, and whether the discovery could have actual legal consequences.
The final version has of course been widely quoted: "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."
The ten alternate drafts are listed here in the order in which Madison, Jefferson, et al appear to have considered them.
** A well regulated Militia, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed when the People belong to a well regulated public Militia.
** A well regulated Militia armed with muskets, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed when the People belong to a public Militia armed with muskets, and whether or not the rules for commas change in future decades.
** The carrying of 9mm semiautomatic handguns (but not necessarily muskets) into schools, churches, bars, and airplanes whenever one might feel like it, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
** Mass and frequent murders in a society's schools, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.##
** The murder of 5 of your neighbors after your wife cooks your eggs wrong, or of 13 people in a citizenship class, or of your 5 children, or of a 17-year-old who egged your car, or of a neighbor for getting a speed bump installed on your street, or of a person who disputes your parking spot, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.##
** The sale of 50 million firearms right after the election of the first black president, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
** An incredibly rare homicide-free weekend as a headline-making event in L.A., being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
** The murder of your daughter and her fiance because they want you to move out of their apartment, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.##,//,&&
** A gun-related homicide rate that's 10 to 44 times higher than in most other affluent countries, even if just 5 times higher than in Canada, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
** The daily murder of 33 people and injuring of 214 people, being necessary to...a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.##
++ In memory of my brother David (Nov. 17, 1958--Nov. 4, 2000)
^^ Harvard historian Jay Silverstein discovered the box amidst a pile of uncatalogued materials in the basement of the NRA's Virginia headquarters. After some effort, he was able to pry it from the director's cold if not dead hands.
## With this draft and and several others, the founders proposed to amend the "unalienable rights" section of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men...are endowed...with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life (unless anyone wants to shoot you), Liberty (same condition) and the pursuit of Happiness (unless anyone wants to shoot a person you love)."
// I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground...
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. Edna St. Vincent Millay
&& What made us dream that he could comb grey hair? William Butler Yeats