The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-03
THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.

The Constitution of the United States
was framed by men who knew what they
intended to say and how to say it. Every
sentence in it is clear, and it's parts are
all consistent with one another. But its
meaning can easily be distorted or pervert-
ed by garbling or paraphrasing. Some
times it is willfuly misrepresented, as APP
pears in the following from the platform
adopted by the labor leaders at st. Louis:
Whereas, Our capitalistic class, as is
again shown in the present strike, is armed,
and has not only policemen, marshals,
sheriffs and deputies, but also a regular
army and militia, in order to enforce gov
eminent by injunction, suppressing lawful
assemblages, free speech and the right to
the public highway; while, on the other
hand. the laboring men of the country are
unarmed and defenseless, contrary to the
words and spirit of the Constitution of the
United States, therefore, be 1t
Resolved That no nation in which the
people are totally disarmed can long re-
main free nation; and, therefore we urge
upon all libertyloving citizens to remem-
Der and obey Article of the Constitution
Of the United States. which reads as foi-
lows: THE right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed."
This is a mischievous attempt to create
the impression that the laboring men of
the country have been deprived of the con-
stitutional right to carry arms. To assist
in creating this impression the Constitution
is garbled. The provision misquoted reads
as follows: "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 infrnged." This bases
the constitutional right of the people to
keep and bear arms on the necessity of
maintaining a militia, and justifies the
maintenance of a we'll regulated militia as
necessary to the security of free state"
This is very different from the idea adj
vanced in the resolution above quoted. The
constitutional right to keep and bear arms
is guaranteed as a means Of training citi-
zens to be members of militia which,
under the joint control of the general and
state governments, is held to be "neces-
sary to the security of a free State" The
Dehs doctrine is that the militia is an in
strument of tyranny in the hands of the
government, and that the constitutional
right to bear arms means the right of
workingmen to arm and organize in OPP
position to the state and its militia. The
Constitution does not recognize any such
right, ana us anu ldlliSIS 0AOWCd
that they were ready to use the militia to
put down lawless demonstrations of armed
bodies Of men not organized as militia. In
Shays's rebellion in 1856 the Governor of
Massachusetts used the militia of the State
to suppress an armed insurrection of citi-
zens against its laws, and in the whisky
Instruction in 1894, Washington issued
proclamation calling upon the Governors of
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and
Virginia for 1900 militia to put down
threatening insurrection against the excise
laws of that period. In both cases the in
surgents had the same constitutional
right to bear arms that Debs & Co. claim
for the workingmen now, but, as they were
acting in opposition to law the authorities,
both state and national did not hesitate to
use the militia against them. Washington
knew the difference between an organized
militia as the right arm of a free state
and bodies of armed men organized in de-
fance of law. The Debs idea of the right
TO bear arms means the right to violate
law. The Constitution does not guarantee
anv such right.