The First Maryland Rifles at Fredericksburg and the Virginia rifles were comprised of backwoods boys who could hit targets the size of a silver dollar at thirty yards. They could hike an average of 29 miles a day, every day, and not lose one man to exhaustion. But for soldiers in the newly formed militia, they were also undisciplined.

General Washington issued an order to these farm boys which forbade profanity and drunkenness. And he required that those not involved in battle to attend services.

When he arrived in Cambridge to address this rag-tag group, Washington noted that it was more like a jamboree than a military establishment. So here we have hundreds of ill-disciplined, hard-drinking, profane men all carrying loaded guns. Isn’t it odd that the founding fathers didn’t fear their owning or bearing arms, in fact they counted on it for the revolution. And they protected that right in the constitution.

It is too bad our current political leaders don’t trust us to own guns. It was that freedom to bear arms, that won us this freedom to talk about it. This is Nina May and the Renaissance Women, honoring the veterans of all battles for freedom and independence.