Nerditorial: South Dakota, "Obamacare", and George Washington Walk Into A Bar...

[Disclaimer: I was raised in South Dakota]

So, in an attempt to be too clever by half about demonstrating the unconstitutional nature of the Affordable Health Care Act, some conservatives in South Dakota have decided to try and pass a law that requires all citizens in the State of South Dakota to own a firearm.

Link here.

The point is...

"If the federal government can order every one of us to buy health insurance because we need medical care, it makes just as much sense for us to require everyone to have a weapon to provide for their protection," the lead sponsor, state Rep. Hal Wick (R), told the Rapid City Journal.

Cute.

Clever.

But wait...

You see, back in the early days of this country, Congress passed and Washington signed the Militia Act of 1792, which provided for universal military training to be conducted at the state level.

And here is some text pulled from the 1792 Militia Act

...
That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder;
...

So, it seems that if the Affordable Health Care Act is unconstitutional... then so were all of the Minutemen.

You know, those guys who unconstitutionally won the Revolutionary War.