The Third Amendment

We don't hear too much about the Third Amendment, do we?

"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

Imagine how the men and women of the 1780's felt, the gunpowder of the Revolution still in their noses. They remembered the terrible mistreatment of the Red Coats, and they wanted to make sure this country wouldn't do the same to the citizenry. It is nice to know we don't have to face the same troubles nowadays, isn't it?

Or do we?

We viewed Hurricane response here in the US a few months ago and the illegal seizure of weapons from homeowners defending themselves and their property. Members of the National Guard also took control of a church (and used it as a command post) without securing the permisson of the pastor (reported by ABC News on September 8, 2005... see footage at http://www.gunowners.org/notb.htm) by clicking on the "video" link). Remember, we were not in a declared war, so this was at least a border line infringement of the 3rd amendment.

Now, to be fair, the members of the National Guard as I witnessed on the news were by and large extremely professional and helpful in a nasty situation. Many had just returned from service in Iraq, only to have to deal with this. And the Guardsman who seized the church did try to secure communications with the pastor to secure permission. Still, someone in government leadership gave these men orders that began, if nothing else, infringing on some terriory of the Bill of Rights (2nd,3rd, 4th amendments, at a minimum).

We don't hear much about the 3rd amendment any more, but don't think it is obsolete - you may need it to protect you one of these days.