Virginia Constitution and Bill of Rights

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I wanted to print out a copy of the Virginia Bill of Rights so that Ican have it handy whenever I need it, soI did a quick google search, using thephrase "Virginia Bill of Rights",to find a copy. I went ahead and clicked on the first result, scrolled downed toArticle I,Section 13 (Militia; standing armies; military subordination to civil power.), and this is what I found:

http://www.constitution.org/bor/vir_bor.htm

13. That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

That is not how I remember the wording, but3 out of the first 4 results from the google search were the same way.

I then decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and look for an "official" Virginia website. This is what I found:

Homepage:http://legis.state.va.us/Laws/Constitution.htm

PDF: http://legis.state.va.us/Laws/search/constofva.pdf

Article I, Section 13. That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state, therefor, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

In the other versions of the Bill of Rights, the most important wording is omitted! Personally, I find it scary that people are trying to hide our rights like this. It's almost like something out of 1984.Any thoughts?

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YIKES!!:what: I guess this is a "google bomb". BS is cross-linked and self-referenced until the prevelance of those links makes them filter to the top of the search. Maybe someone could post instructions for us here to set up a countermeasure?

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It should be treasonous to modify a Bill of Rights (whether it be state or national) in any way, shape or form without the proper radification. These rights have brought this country unprecedented successes and its highly irritating that someone decides to take the liberty to change the wording, and effectively the scope of the passage itself.

This should be a clear sign of things to come. We should all strive to know our rights (afforded to by the United States and Virginia Constitutions. If we dont know them, how we will know if we are losing them?

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It looks like the 18th century version of the VA RTKBA did not mention the RTKBA like the modern version does.

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From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Constitution
Article I - Bill of Rights Article I incorporates the entire original Virginia Declaration of Rights from the 1776 Constitution. However, several of the sections have been expanded to include concepts from the United States Bill of Rights, such as due process, the prohibition against double jeopardy and the right to bear arms. Like the Federal Constitution, the Virginia Bill of Rights, in §17, states that the listing of certain rights is not to be construed to exclude other rights held by the people.

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Wow! It looks like I misread and overreacted a little. When I googled "Virginia Bill of Rights"what actually came up was the "Virginia Declaration of Rights" from 1776. The 1776 Declarationdid not have the "right to keep and bear arms" wording that was put in when it was adopted as a Bill of Rights for the state Constitution. My bad.

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Don't worry about it, I never realized that Virginia's RKBA has expanded from the way it was originally written until I looked it up today. It was a good learning experience.

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Bad VApatriot bad!!! J/K

Good catch on the wording, though. I wonder how many antis who claim, we infringe on their right to feel comfortable, have ever read any of this?