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Originally Posted by Winnicandle
Don't be so quick to lump guns together and start throwing away your rights, complete nations and large parts of races have been wiped out by this mindset!
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Which ones?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy
I am am a FIRM believer in the Constitution, and the 2nd Amendment is a key provision! The right to bear arms was important enough to our founding fathers as to be listed #2, right behind life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness! The 2nd Amendment prevents an oppressive tyrannical government, allows people to defend thier homes and themselves from criminals. I have no problem with the Brady Bill or backround checks. People who buy guns legally are not the problem...
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It was actually the fourth amendment proposed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The first two just didn't pass (the first, dealing with Congressional representation, never passed; the second, dealing with Congressional pay raises, became the 27th).
Nobody disputes that the intent of the 2nd Amendment was "to provide for the common defense" - "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State" - both against outside forces (the regular Continental Army was a fraction of the colonists' armed forces during the Revolution) and against internal rebellion (Shays' Rebellion proved that it was difficult to avoid a standing army and still muster a timely, effective federal response to a threat). Through English common law, weapon ownership was both a right and a responsibility (though limited in the Isles to members of the Church of England; i.e., the establishment).
Paradoxically, a widespread militia was also seen as a check on the power of the central government. The Framers, fresh off their use of arms to overthrow a government that they felt did not have their best interests at heart, wanted to protect the power to do so again. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were sparked by a British attempt to infringe on that power - the Regulars were marching on Concord to confiscate the stores of ammunition that they had learned the militia were stockpiling. Such a need had already proven superfluous, as the Framers had peacefully "overthrown" the ineffective Articles of Confederation and drafted & ratified the Constitution.
The grammar in early versions of "bear arms" clauses, in state constitutions and in draft resolutions in Congress, seems to point more clearly to the militia as the only intent of this clause - but somewhere along the way a comma replaced a semicolon, and here we are.
Until D.C. v. Heller, the Court had never ruled on extensions to the 2nd Amendment in favor of individual self-defense, and they were not explicit in that case's applications to the rest of the country. It will make for interesting debate in the coming years.
On the other hand, we should consider ourselves lucky - spelling was so inconsistent at the time that we might today be debating the meaning of a right to "bare arms!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy
The 2nd Amendment gives you the RIGHT to bear arms. Thats a pretty darn powerful word! The government has HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of laws pertaining to the regulation of firearms. There is no need for additional laws or regulation. In fact I think the laws should be streamlined somewhat.
IMHO, the government shouldnt be telling you what type of firearm you can own... its your RIGHT to posess one. There is no need for firearms to be limited to protection or hunting. I was against the assault weapon ban when it was first implemented and I was glad it was repealed. If you want to limit the use of firearms tax the ammo...
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First of all, taxing ammunition wouldn't have any effect on the use of guns in violent crimes. (I think we can all agree that the reason that those who oppose gun ownership do so is because of crime. Accidental deaths are just more "ammunition" for them.) Those who commit gun violence are willing to pay 5 times the market value for guns on the black market. They're not going to care about a 10% tax on their ammunition.
Second, nobody complains about the fact that convicted felons are unable to legally own guns - even those convicted of non-violent crimes. So it's obviously not an absolute right. There is an undeniable qualitative difference between a weapon that could be fired 4 times in a minute and accurate at 100 yards and one that can be fired 100 times in a minute and accurate at 500 yards. Of course, whether that should make a difference is where the debate lies.
I know I'm new here, but I feel like context is important. Can you tell I teach history?