I disagree with Harry Smith’s Jan. 27 letter “Know the meaning of ‘regulated.'” The militia is to be “regulated” under the Second Amendment, which is not to regulate arms.
In an earlier letter on Jan. 15, “Confine guns to militias,” Beth Duvall equated “militia” with the National Guard and military reserves. Our state law and the U.S. Supreme Court agree — the militia consists of all able-bodied citizens of the United States who are more than 18 years of age, including all members of the National Guard and the state guard. (See RCW 38.04.030.)
If you are an able-bodied Clark County citizen over 18, you are probably part of the Washington state militia, by law. You may not be “regular” Army, like the British Regulars of 1776. No U.S. state has been invaded by a foreign military in over a century. But if that happens, we members of the militia can be quickly organized to serve like regular Army. We can be “well regulated” into a defensive force if we have retained the right to keep and bear the kinds of arms that would be used in such a military emergency. That is how the Second Amendment lets us maintain “the security of a free state.”
It’s not about sport hunting.
David Arnett
Vancouver
