CBS 46 (ATL) evening news anchor Ben Swann discussed the “true intent” behind the Second Amendment on Monday night.
SWANN: Some legal analysts say that it was not until the 1980’s that the militia part of the Second Amendment became ignored, and thanks to an all-out push by the NRA, the meaning of the Second Amendment was expanded from militia to the individual … [This] analysis may be historically correct, in as far as the change in modern or public view of the Second Amendment, but [it’s] absolutely wrong when [it] indicates that the Second Amendment does not originally mean private ownership of a gun for individuals … Now this may be a very foreign concept, but The very first fight over the Second Amendment was not over whether the population should be armed. Reality check here: all the framers and the founders agreed with that idea. It was a given at that time … In short, Federalists — including men like John Jay, James Madison, George Washington — wanted the Second Amendment because they believed a strong federal government would be able to control the standing army. The Anti-Federalists, they wanted it because that would mean every able-bodied man in America would be armed, in the event that the federal government — or America’s own standing army — turned on its own people. I told you, it’s a very hard truth here, and really that’s what you need to know. The Second Amendment is not about hunting, or even just defense of your own home. It was written by men who ultimately believe that governments and armies would turn on their own people. The Second Amendment was written so that would never happen.