The second amendment creates a pretty difficult dilemma. Allowing the manufacture and sale to civilians of automatic weapons (machine guns,) handguns, and all forms of weapons just creates more death, as there will be all kinds of crazy people that are armed to the teeth (imagine being in a traffic jam if people were allowed to own full-auto weapons!) but banning the sale of these weapons negates the concept that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." as spelled out in the United States Declaration of Independence, because the civilians will no longer be able to effectively engage the State military in combat.
I've never owned a gun and i'll most likely never will, but every upstanding American who wants to own a firearm, should. I love that even the founding fathers were making the argument that criminals will get guns no matter what laws we pass and it's important for the average citizen to also be able to have them.
When someone under a ruthless dictator flees the country and doesn't return until things change, that is understandable. When someone is unhappy in a country where avenues for affecting change are wide open compared to most of the world, and they choose to flee instead of getting their hands dirty in making the change they hope for come about, that person is a lazy coward.
Reading those quotes, I can't help but think how far the standards of leadership have fallen. "It's a series of tubes" just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of those quotes.
Forgetting, conveniently, that what is called the First Amendment was actually #3 on the list.#s 1 and 2 didn't pass.One of them, the prohibition of congress raising its own pay right away, took 200 more years to ratify.The 9mm is actually really bad at killing anything, that's why it's prohibitted from hunting. Go get a .44 Mag if what you want to do is kill. 9mm is good if what you want to do is give the criminal a change to _live_.
That armed crazy person is going to think twice about firing off that machine gun (or whatever) if he knows that almost everyone around him has the same thing. On the other hand if he is pretty certain that he is the only one armed ...
The US government defines what the militia is:Title 10, Section 311, United States Code, Armed Forces, as revised September 2, 1958.The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except, as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are commissioned officers of the National Guard. The classes of the militia are (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia. Guess what. It is all of us.
In three of the other Ten Right sin the Bill of Rights, the term "the right of the people: is used. and in each of those amendments, subsequent court cases have held - in reference to the First most notably - that the phrase is exclusively meant for individual Americans. How else could you interpret that phrase in three of the amendments, and then decide that it means something different in a fourth?The SCOTUS had no alternative but to find this meaning, because if they decided otherwise, it would have seriously impacted and eroded the other Amendments wherein the phrase is used.Thankfully, for now, the rest of our Rights can remain intact. God Bless America!!
jstoneDec 11, 2006
The second amendment creates a pretty difficult dilemma. Allowing the manufacture and sale to civilians of automatic weapons (machine guns,) handguns, and all forms of weapons just creates more death, as there will be all kinds of crazy people that are armed to the teeth (imagine being in a traffic jam if people were allowed to own full-auto weapons!) but banning the sale of these weapons negates the concept that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." as spelled out in the United States Declaration of Independence, because the civilians will no longer be able to effectively engage the State military in combat.
redrevoltDec 11, 2006
I've never owned a gun and i'll most likely never will, but every upstanding American who wants to own a firearm, should. I love that even the founding fathers were making the argument that criminals will get guns no matter what laws we pass and it's important for the average citizen to also be able to have them.
hipstershaunDec 11, 2006
When someone under a ruthless dictator flees the country and doesn't return until things change, that is understandable. When someone is unhappy in a country where avenues for affecting change are wide open compared to most of the world, and they choose to flee instead of getting their hands dirty in making the change they hope for come about, that person is a lazy coward.
robotcitizenDec 11, 2006
Reading those quotes, I can't help but think how far the standards of leadership have fallen. "It's a series of tubes" just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of those quotes.
closedcaptionDec 12, 2006
Wow, Suddenly people care about Rights?
curthowlandDec 12, 2006
Go read _Unintended Consequences_ by John Ross. And _Hope_ by L.Neil Smith.
curthowlandDec 12, 2006
Forgetting, conveniently, that what is called the First Amendment was actually #3 on the list.#s 1 and 2 didn't pass.One of them, the prohibition of congress raising its own pay right away, took 200 more years to ratify.The 9mm is actually really bad at killing anything, that's why it's prohibitted from hunting. Go get a .44 Mag if what you want to do is kill. 9mm is good if what you want to do is give the criminal a change to _live_.
justsaltDec 20, 2006
That armed crazy person is going to think twice about firing off that machine gun (or whatever) if he knows that almost everyone around him has the same thing. On the other hand if he is pretty certain that he is the only one armed ...
justsaltDec 20, 2006
The US government defines what the militia is:Title 10, Section 311, United States Code, Armed Forces, as revised September 2, 1958.The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except, as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are commissioned officers of the National Guard. The classes of the militia are (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia. Guess what. It is all of us.
christianptriotMar 19, 2008
In three of the other Ten Right sin the Bill of Rights, the term "the right of the people: is used. and in each of those amendments, subsequent court cases have held - in reference to the First most notably - that the phrase is exclusively meant for individual Americans. How else could you interpret that phrase in three of the amendments, and then decide that it means something different in a fourth?The SCOTUS had no alternative but to find this meaning, because if they decided otherwise, it would have seriously impacted and eroded the other Amendments wherein the phrase is used.Thankfully, for now, the rest of our Rights can remain intact. God Bless America!!