Editor, Gazette-Journal:

In a recent issue of the Gazette-Journal, I noted within a letter to the editor a reference to "well regulated" as in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The term "well regulated" speaks to the organization of a militia rather than the definition of regulated that we have become so familiar with. Today virtually everything is subject to regulation by government.

Within the Second Amendment, the term "well regulated" applies to the organization of a militia under the auspices of a governing body, in this instance, "We the People." This make a clear distinction between that of irregular where that organization might be outside of a governing body, or that militia organized under a separate agenda altogether, which might not be under the auspices of a governing body, for example, an organized volunteer militia.

This concept and distinction is rarely made today, but was in common use during the founding of this nation. "Well regulated" as it is used i...