Professional golfer Bob Estes made a “tweet” after the shooting in Garland, Texas. His first tweet indicated that he felt that the Islam terrorists were exercising their Second Amendment rights in shooting people at the First Amendment display in Garland, Texas sponsored by Pamela Geller.

Estes, who describes himself as a Christian conservative, corrected his tweet later fearing that his first might be misunderstood.To his credit, Estes did attempt to correct the misunderstanding. Unfortunately the tweet shows a lack of understanding of the Second Amendment prevalent in society. The Second Amendment does not allow the use of any weapon for criminal activity.

The Second Amendment does not specifically protect “firearms.” The Second Amendment reads:

“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.”

This statement actually makes three points. 1st, that the “People” are the militia. Not the National Guard. 2nd, that an armed people are the only protection of a free State.

The 3rd, and most important to this discussion, is that all arms, or weapons, are protected by the Second Amendment. A reading of Federalist Paper No. 29 reveals that training and arming the people equal to any standing army that might exist in the future is the only protection against the rise of tyranny.

So important was this that President George Washington established the Springfield Armory to keep the people armed with the latest weapons and devises of warfare.

There was no standing army until after the American Civil war. West Point was established as a training center for officers to take command of State militias in the event of a national emergency, such as was necessary in the War of 1812 and even the Civil War.

Benjamin Franklin noted this in his publication Information to Those Who Would Remove to America.

These Ideas prevailing more or less in all the United States, it cannot be worth any Man’s while, who has a means of Living at home, to expatriate himself, in hopes of obtaining a profitable civil Office in America; and, as to military Offices, they are at an End with the War, the Armies being disbanded.

The Second Amendment, in short, is to prevent this sort of activity by protecting the borders of the United States. That responsibility, in the Constitution, is placed on the militia. The Constitution lays the responsibility of ensuring that the militia is armed with “military-style” weapons on the national government in Washington D.C.