published: Friday, February 15, 2013

Letters

Second Amendment written for slave states

We have so many myths, misconceptions about the intent of the Second Amendment floating in our various media venues.

The Second Amendment was written the way it is to make sure slavery could continue in the South and to gain the support of the Southern states for the Constitution. The South had created "slave patrols," which were well-regulated to make sure no slave rebellion succeeded.

The Second Amendment was rewritten a number of times to satisfy the Southern slave states.

One of the last revisions was to change free country to free state so it read, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall be infringed."

The clear intent of the founders in the Second Amendment was to help protect the state against any uprisings and to protect the property of the slave owners.

There is no evidence to make the case that it is was to protect the people from an oppressive government.

There is no evidence in the Consti-tution that there was any intent of arming people so they could defend themselves against government action taken against them. There have been attempts by some who believed this to be the case, like at Ruby Ridge and Waco. They found their attempts were futile.

The argument can be made that the first police forces or militias were the slave patrols formed in the early 1700s in the Southern states to enforce the slave code laws. The laws restricted the movement of slaves, established curfews, banned firearms and large gatherings. Almost every white male was required to serve on the slave patrols, and to own a functioning weapon he could bring when enforcing the slave code laws as a member of this form of a militia.

The slave patrols remained until after the Civil War and after the Reconstruction period, the slave code laws were replaced by the Jim Crow laws. The main enforcement of these laws was taken over by the Klu Klux Klan. It used fear and intimidation as the main enforcement method with the help of the sheet, rope, whip, gun and fire.

It took action by the federal government to break the power the KKK had in suppressing the civil rights of the black community. It took President Dwight D. Eisenhower to order federal troops to enforce the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that eliminated segregation of schools.

Today, we still have vigilantes policing other civilians in parts of the world like the Muslim patrol in London enforcing Sharia Law on all.

If we could talk to James Madison, the author of the Second Amendment, he would be surprised that we do not understand "a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state," and why we don't connect it to the rest of the amendment, which reads, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

The Supreme Court in the Heller case ruled by a 5-4 vote in 2008 that the people had the individual right to keep and bear arms, according to the Second Amendment. It was the same five justices that ruled corporations are people. Enough said.

Marvin Jacobson resides in Clermont.

Red light cameras are about money

The government says the red light cameras are installed for our safety. Do you believe this nonsense? It's just another way for making money.

Next time the light turns yellow, time it. It stays yellow for about three seconds. I am not a mathematician but there is a distance from the light when it turns yellow that you cannot stop safely, or safely go through it. That seems to be when I get it, and I have to lock up the brakes and everything on the front seat goes on the floor; or I have to put my foot into the carburetor.

Common sense tells me if they would add another two seconds on the yellow light, everyone would have more time to go through the intersection safely. But if they did that, they wouldn't make any money. Get the picture? It's a money game.

They said on TV they were going to relocate five cameras in Orlando. Wouldn't that make those locations less safe? It's all about safety right?

They slipped up and said the reason for relocating those five cameras was because they were not making any money.

It seems like whenever the government does anything about safety, it's really about money going from your empty wallet into its hands. The new septic tank law in some counties is a good example of that. If you flush your toilet and the goodies disappear, that part works. Now go to where the drainfield is and if you are not standing in dirty water, that part works.

The government thinks we are all stupid and believe everything it says. A lot of us have what government doesn't, it's called common sense.

I bet they could tell this to a college educated kid today and he or she would believe it. When your government tells you something and it's not true, it's called brainwashing.

Our government wants to make all the decisions for us. Do you know when the government makes all the decisions for its people, the people are all just a herd of sheep.

Thomas H. Abrehamsen | Eustis