01-The Second Amendment

"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".

            I never thought I would be writing this.

            People forget that the second amendment was written as the United States was coming out of a long, devastating war with an oppressive government that had sent a military force against its own citizens. The right to bear arms was not originally needed as a guarantee of our right to self-defense of home and person. That was taken for granted. It was intended to allow citizens to organize militias to protect themselves from a violently oppressive government.

            It is clear to me that the overreach of National Guard and ICE deployments today is designed to provoke a violent response from citizens in order to justify larger and more severe deployments in areas politically unfriendly to Trump and his lackeys.

            We are enjoined, appropriately, not to fall into this trap for two reasons. First, it will lead to more “crackdowns” and violence, and second, we are not prepared for a full out war against ICE. ICE is becoming the president’s personal military force and has essentially no congressional oversight. Its pretended mission to remove illegal immigrants (the large majority of whom behave responsibly, contribute to our economy, and deserve a path to citizenship) is fading into hypocrisy. ICE is being used to threaten violence on non-Trumpian communities.

            At some point, the response calculation may change. Perhaps more of us will break ranks and respond independently and violently. That is already happening to some extent. If these incidents should provide enough excuse for the administration to dramatically increase its violence, then asserting our right to bear arms in a well regulated militia to defend ourselves from a violent and oppressive federal government may become our least bad option. Is it wrong to prepare for such a time? I think not. 

            The National Guard units are our main line of defense. I don’t think most National Guard units would be loyal to the current Federal government past a certain point, but there is ambiguity in their leadership. The president is commander-in-chief in national missions, and their state’s governor is commander-in-chief in state missions. If a state is protecting its citizens against federal violence, that sounds like a state mission to me, but obviously the president will disagree. 

            We need to have these discussions now.

Hugh Moffatt
Nashville, Tennessee
January 10, 2026