LEADER PRINCIPLE OR THE PEOPLE PRINCIPLE? Edwin Vieira, Jr.,
Ph.D., J.D. Now turn specifically to “the Militia of the several
States.” If an architect’s plan requires a certain structural
element, it must be necessary. If necessary, it must be included
in the building. And having been put in, it cannot be pulled
out, or allowed to fall into disrepair, let alone to decay
entirely. Apply this analogy to the Second Amendment. If, as the
Amendment declares, “[a] well regulated Militia” is “necessary
to the security of a free State,” then it is an essential
element of that “security.” Therefore, “a free State” can
be—indeed, should be—defined as one that has “[a] well regulated
Militia.” The very existence of “a free State” depends upon its
having “[a] well regulated Militia” at all times. The Militia
appear not only in the Second Amendment, but also in the
original Constitution. Indeed, the Militia are the only subject
as to which the original Constitution and an Amendment cover the
same ground and reinforce one