Correct Answer – The Right To Bear Arms

Correct Answer – The Right To Bear Arms
When Was The Last Time You Took The Civics Test?

Leyla Myers Va State Coordinator Second Amendment March
Leyla Myers Va State Coordinator Second Amendment March
Second Amendment March
Second Amendment March

Virginia –-(AmmoLand.com)-We all have various milestones in our lives. I have had a number of them since May 2001 when I came to this country on the employment visa. November 18, 2009 will be another milestone in my life – I am required to take a two hour civics test and English language knowledge test as part of my naturalization process.

I got a notice from USCIS in August 2009 that I am now eligible to apply for a U.S. citizenship. I jumped for joy, to say the least. The next thing I did was to ask my lawyer which form I have to file and how much is the application fee? Next action item was to download the civics test flash cards – a sample of questions (available on USCIS website) you should expect to be asked during the test. I felt well prepared already. I’ve been preparing for a number of years – even before I got my “green card”. During last eight years, I have visited Mt. Vernon twice, went to the National Archives, as well as Philadelphia, Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, Ash Lawn-Highland, The Hermitage, Bull Run and Petersburg battlefield grounds, and Appomattox; I met the impersonators of Gen. Washington and Patrick Henry.

I also found out that as a foreigner, I cannot contact my state’s senator or representative and ask for a pass to tour the Capitol, but if I present my foreign passport and go through multiple of the Capitol building’s security check points, I could be allowed to sit in the gallery during the session of either of the chambers. I did so with my mother while she was visiting me, who was just as surprised and excited to get this opportunity.

When my husband and I sat down one evening on our front porch and I asked him to read the 100 questions from the flash cards, I answered most of them without hesitation. Note to the developers of the flash cards – the federal government has the power “to coin Money” (Art. 1, Sec. 8), it does not have the power to print money (as the test’s suggested answer implies). We know too well what “printing money” leads to.

There were few wrong answers on my part, and one great surprise. Turned out I wrongly assumed that the right to vote was in the Bill of Rights. It could be considered as a granted right and there are 4 separate amendments that cover this subject and make sure people are not discriminated or denied a right to vote for various reasons.

But one suggested answer that brought a feeling of pleasant surprise to both of us was to the question “What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?” (The question expects you to name just two rights, although we know there are more; and the potential list of answers is not limited to just two answers.) ‘The right to bear arms’ was not the answer I expected to see. Nevertheless, there it was, on the list of correct answers. Hah! I just found the explanation to why we have such a large number of people in the anti-gun-owners movement. I can only guess that very few of them ever took the naturalization test. If they did, they would at once stop arguing with 2A activists and defenders. Let’s propose and pass a new amendment regarding voting right – that everyone has to pass a civics test before they can register to vote.

Now, I am not trying to come across as know-it-all sort of person. To the contrary, until about 2004 I had no clue that “right to keep and bear arms” was an actual language of the Second Amendment. Fact is, I did not care to know much about it, much less to exercise it. And look at me now – I am a member of VCDL, and a life-time member of the Second Amendment Sisters.

I am also a Virginia State Coordinator for the Second Amendment March which is set to take place in Washington, D.C. on April 19, 2010. If you have not heard about it yet, I urge you to visit our website and consider volunteering and supporting our mission. We need all the help we can get. We are all volunteers and can only be as successful as your willingness to help us. The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and resolve of Americans; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun legislation; and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our right to self defense. It is the one right that protects all others.

As I travel across Virginia and spread the word about the March, every once in a while someone would ask me a question, “Do you think we can lose our right? Do you think government can take it away?” Well, the Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. Today there are thousands of laws on the books, regulating and restricting individuals from owning certain types of arms, carrying them in certain places, etc. How is that for not infringing on the right? You have already lost so much, and sure will lose more unless you stand up and fight any new restrictions or regulations. They will take it, one step at a time, unless we make our voices heard.

That one test question is amazing for yet another reason. “What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?” Are we to assume there is not a single living soul left today in Chicago, California, New York and Washington, D.C., except for police, politicians and celebrities? If you don’t get the irony of the question, look up the gun laws in those places.

I will update you on the results of my test and other developments on my way to citizenship. Meanwhile, I leave you with a trivia question – “Who was the President to appoint the most number of judges to the Supreme Court?”

Leyla Myers
Virginia State Coordinator
Second Amendment March (secondamendmentmarch.com)

About:
The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and resolve of Americans; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun legislation; and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our right to self defense.

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fish hunt

I find myself coming back here a lot to read. I've learned many new things here. Thanks a lot!

Rick

Jarhead, good response to Briggsy. I would like to add comments made by some who had input into creating the Constitution: Tenche Coxe: "Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in… Read more »

Jarhead1982

So Briggsy, have you read all the docuemntation,drafts and reference works that were the cumulative sources for the Bill of Rights, apparently not. Drafts , congressional minutes 1774-1789, Federalist Ppaers # 29, John Lockes Treatise, Virginia & English BOR, and BOR drafts Karpeles museum, California. Pay close attention to what the original draft of what became the second amendment was, a collective right. If that was truly what the founders intended, then why did they change to what exists today eh Briggsy? Explain why our founders would write all but one amendment (even those not ratified) as individual rights and… Read more »

Harry

Briggsy, where in the language of the second amendment does it state that membership in an organized militia is a condition of the right to keep and bear arms? A well regulated (or "drilled" in modern terms) militia is said to be necessary to the security of a free state but we are no more required to belong to a government controlled militia in order to on a gun than we are required to belong to a government controlled church in order to own a bible.

Briggsy

Read the entire language of the 2A Leyla. It refers to the right of the People to bear arms when they are part of a well regulated militia, not as an individual right. This has been misinterpreted by Justice Scalia, and must eventually be revisited and corrected to reduce the dangerous proliferation of guns and ammo in American society.

Rick

Leyla, great article. As a gun owner in Kansas, I appreciate your emphasizing our "right to keep and bear arms." With that language alone, I believe that all people now in prison, who are otherwise law abiding citizens, but who are serving time for violation of some unconstitutional gun law, have the right to sue the prosecuting attorney, judges, and the arresting officers, for violating their civil rights. I hope Plaxico Burress and Delonte West see this. I would like for them to sue New York for being imprisoned violating their civil rights due to breaking the state and city's… Read more »