The Second Amendment is one of the first ten amendments to the Constitution of The United States which together are known as The Bill of Rights. They were written – and ratified – to help strengthen the Constitution and get it ratified by the thirteen original states. In particular, these ten amendments addressed the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights to limit government power and protect individual liberties.

The Second Amendment, often referred to as “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms”, simply states

“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.”

This right was not a new concept in the history of man. About a century earlier the Declaration of Rights of 1689 allowed the English citizens to possess arms for self-defense. In the American colonial and revolutionary eras, governing documents such as the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights affirmed the right for the citizens to arm themselves.

A DVD “In Search of the Second Amendment” produced by legal scholar David T. Hardy is a documentary and the first ten or twelve minutes is history from Europe. It includes more recent history too, such as how armed resistance staved off the KKK and the story of how gun ownership figured in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Early justification for the Second Amendment was national defense. The rationale has evolved and while today hunting and gun sports may come to mind, the basic right involved is that of self-defense. In many American cities today the response time for 911 calls needing police approaches – or exceeds – ten minutes. Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark was and is a strong proponent of concealed carry due to this response time.

Threats to the Second Amendment are not a new phenomenon. While gun grabbing legislation and red flag laws may be of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the threat has been recognized for a while. Joseph Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (published in 1833) wrote about the Second Amendment: “There is certainly no small danger that indifference may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause in our national bill of rights.”

Some “history” of the Second Amendment is more recent. The United States Supreme Court has had three significant Second Amendment related cases in the first quarter of this century; District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022). All three of these cases reaffirmed the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

More current events were pretty well summarized in the NRA magazine America’s First Freedom’s recent cover story. The story, “Freedom is on the Ballot in Virginia and New Jersey”, is about the two gubernatorial elections on November 4th, 2025. A sub-headline reads “This race should be a referendum on the Second Amendment, but the anti-gun Left does not want it to be.” In both cases a freedom loving, Second Amendment supporting, conservative Republican candidate is running against a hyper-gun control big government Democrat for the open seat of Governor of their respective state. In both cases, the media seems complicit in hiding the Democrats’ true feelings about the individual freedoms guaranteed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In Virginia, the Republican candidate is the current Lt. Governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, who is a US Marine Veteran and has said “Your right to protect yourself must always be defended.” In New Jersey, the Democrat candidate, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, “is a gun-ban extremist who hides behind her past military credentials to try to fool gun owners into mistakenly supporting her.” One lesson here is to not just listen to the candidates, but check references (and their previous words and actions)!

In an effort to inform concerned citizens, there will be a Second Amendment Forum on Sunday, November 9th at 6 PM at Taphouse Twenty in Tomah. Speakers will include Eric Toney (Fond du Lac County District Attorney and candidate for Attorney General), Chris Weaver (Chief Deputy, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office), and Hubert Hoffman (Local NRA & Republican activist). This event is being facilitated by the Republican Party of Monroe County and every concerned citizen is invited to attend. Monroe County is one of twenty Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties in Wisconsin. (A $10 donation will help defray costs.)