> My interpretation of the Second Amendment that is that the Constitution explicitly grants Americans the right to private gun ownership because it is the last line of defense against an oppressive government.
> I believe it is for the government to be afraid of its people, not the other way around.
HA!
The government is not afraid of you. If you ever tried to actually use your weapon against them, you'd be branded a terrorist (justified or not), and hunted down and killed, or if you are lucky, detained indefinitely.
The logic behind the reasoning in the quote is the same that make people think they can end an oppressive regime (like Iraq or North Korea) by just walking in and killing the leader.
You feel powerful with a weapon in your hand, but the world is more complex than that.
> I believe it is for the government to be afraid of its people, not the other way around.
A country where government is afraid of people because of guns is not a country where you want to live. Trust me. I'm fine with guns, but don't believe you're doing anything useful.
This guy is a part of the problem. The 2nd amendment links the right to keep and bear arms with the need for a "well regulated militia". Congress and the courts have never actually enforced this linkage and indeed pretend that it doesn't exist -- which is the basis of our current problems with gun nuts insisting that the general population be heavily armed. This guy may never go nutso and shoot up a classroom (even though his paranoia about the "govenrment" seems to indicate some degree of mental illness) but some other deluded soul could use the weapon to kill innocents. As long as gun nuts run the government we are truly and thoroughly screwed. (just my humble opinion).
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I really don't understand why people have such a hard time with this, when it has been gone over so much. Regulated from the latin origin regula or to supply. So well regulated is well supplied. So the founding father where saying that a well supplied militia is necessary to the security of a free state therefore arms are not to be infringed to guarantee a well supply. It has nothing to do with regulation, AKA a governed group of militia people, but people try to contort regulated with regulation all the time to make the second amendment fit their desires for it to read how they want it to.
> I need it because I don’t need the government telling me what I don’t need.
So why aren't you using drugs? The government is pretty straightforward on those too. That's just a crappy excuse.
Apart from that, this post is an overall crap too and you just (unsuccessfully) try to justify owning a gun by saying 'just in case' and promoting fear of government, opressors, cops, neighbours, everyone.
I don't own a gun, probably never will, and I forbid my children to play with toy guns. There's plenty of other things that they can play with in order to make bonds with their peers, not get afraid of them.
You're the BS result of an arcane societal obsession of one certain Western country based on an judicially blessed misrepresentation of what their "founding fathers" had in mind on the issue which even in it's original intent is obsolete anyway (e.g people being armed in militias to overthrow a possible repressive government -- a notion that made sense back in the day, but today's government has 1000 times the resources and most gun owners don't care about the government anyway).
geon|13 years ago
> I believe it is for the government to be afraid of its people, not the other way around.
HA!
The government is not afraid of you. If you ever tried to actually use your weapon against them, you'd be branded a terrorist (justified or not), and hunted down and killed, or if you are lucky, detained indefinitely.
The logic behind the reasoning in the quote is the same that make people think they can end an oppressive regime (like Iraq or North Korea) by just walking in and killing the leader.
You feel powerful with a weapon in your hand, but the world is more complex than that.
tangue|13 years ago
A country where government is afraid of people because of guns is not a country where you want to live. Trust me. I'm fine with guns, but don't believe you're doing anything useful.
bill_from_tampa|13 years ago
kls|13 years ago
I really don't understand why people have such a hard time with this, when it has been gone over so much. Regulated from the latin origin regula or to supply. So well regulated is well supplied. So the founding father where saying that a well supplied militia is necessary to the security of a free state therefore arms are not to be infringed to guarantee a well supply. It has nothing to do with regulation, AKA a governed group of militia people, but people try to contort regulated with regulation all the time to make the second amendment fit their desires for it to read how they want it to.
tzaman|13 years ago
So why aren't you using drugs? The government is pretty straightforward on those too. That's just a crappy excuse.
Apart from that, this post is an overall crap too and you just (unsuccessfully) try to justify owning a gun by saying 'just in case' and promoting fear of government, opressors, cops, neighbours, everyone.
I don't own a gun, probably never will, and I forbid my children to play with toy guns. There's plenty of other things that they can play with in order to make bonds with their peers, not get afraid of them.
Peace.
sokoloff|13 years ago
pretoriusB|13 years ago
You're the BS result of an arcane societal obsession of one certain Western country based on an judicially blessed misrepresentation of what their "founding fathers" had in mind on the issue which even in it's original intent is obsolete anyway (e.g people being armed in militias to overthrow a possible repressive government -- a notion that made sense back in the day, but today's government has 1000 times the resources and most gun owners don't care about the government anyway).
So, let's not.