Sweet home South Dakota

South Dakota introduces a bill that would require all adults to own a firearm "sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defense".

Rep. Hal Wick, R-Sioux Falls, is sponsoring the bill and knows it will be killed...

"Do I or the other cosponsors believe that the State of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not. But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance," he said.

Smarter bloggers than I have pointed out that Mr. Wick should take a closer look at the Constitution. The health insurance mandate is transparently unconstitutional by any honest assessment, but the federal government and the states do, in fact, have specifically enumerated militia powers that would allow them to mandate gun ownership. In fact, under the Militia Act of 1792, almost every adult male citizen was required to provide himself with a musket or rifle and around two dozen rounds of ammunition, and to report for training twice a year. That law was in effect until 1903.