Second Amendment bill makes no sense

In my life, I've seen fewer bills introduced which are more illogically conceived than State Rep. Chris Welch's HR 0855, the so called "Second Amendment - not an individual right" bill.

The Preamble to The Bill of Rights states that the framers sought to prevent "misconstruction," or misunderstanding, of the constitution. The preamble clearly shows that the constitution is to be interpreted as was originally intended.

Our constitution recognizes two sovereign entities: states and people. Only a fool would argue that the freedoms protected by the First through Fifth amendments belong to anyone but people. The Second Amendment is clearly a "right of the people."

The Second Amendment and the militia are inextricably intertwined. In English: you can't have one without the other. The term "well-regulated" in colonial times meant well-trained. It has nothing to do with government regulation. It was the understanding of our Founding Fathers that in exercising their Second Amendment rights as citizen-soldiers those citizen soldiers would be well-trained in the use of arms. It was also intended that those citizen-soldiers could be called up at any time by the legislature as a first line of defense and also in place of a standing army, which the constitution prevents.

Marksmanship skills are not learned in basic training. Every general in every army all over the world knows this: A force of one million American citizen-soldiers could defeat any army in the war. It's the reason Japan never invaded us in World War II, nor Russia during the Cold War.

If the constitution allows anything, it is the funding of a citizen militia. That means range construction and operation, and supplying arms and training to its citizens. Perhaps Representative Welch could introduce a bill along these lines. I won't hold my breath.

Jeff Lonigro

St. Charles