Quote:
Originally Posted by RawleyD
You might not be aware that when the United States of America was founded, our forefathers wrote into our Constitution that citizens shall always have the right to bear arms, and this was NOT for hunting, shooting sport, etc. It was so we would always have the means to resist our government if/when they try to take away our rights and freedoms as citizens.
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Mmm... I'm no proponent of tinkering with the Constitution but from my own studies, it's not that simple. The 2nd Am is the only one that is predicated with a condition.
We mirrored the English Bill of Rights after the King tried to pick and choose who could bear arms on the basis of religion, so as a response to this their Bill of Rights gave that freedom it to all its citizenry, with the
intent of arming insurgency against tyranny, not as an indvidual liberty to fight provincial crime in the absence of a full-time police force.
If you will note, all other Constitutional freedoms here in America, are written absolutely,
without condition. At the time we did not have a standing army so in lieu of this we were given the right to form our militias with muskets. If the founding fathers (a very shrewd bunch) intended for you to have a musket for any purpose you wished, be it militia forming, or turkey shooting or 4th of July celebrations, they would have stated it simply, without condition, exactly as they stated all our other Constitutional rights. In other words, in my view, had the founding fathers wanted the 2nd Am to be an absolute indiviual liberty, they would have simply stated "you have right to bear arms. period." And there would be absolutely no debate. If a tyranical govt were to take hold, your unconditioned right to bear arms could readily be used for decapitating the unlawful despot. But the founding fathers didn't do that... They gave that right an express purpose, in a singular context. Just like the 3rd and 4th Am's are each written within a very explicit context.
And the Courts, including conservative ones appointed by Republican Presidents, saw it this way for a very, very long time before lobbying became a big business.
I'm not arguing that guns should be banned, but I don't see how someone can argue that we have an absolute and unlimited right to buy arms for whatever purpose or desires we wish when it wasn't written that way by the founding fathers.