Quote:
Originally Posted by oldjudge
Second Ammendment: 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.
The above is the Second Ammendment. It was written at a time when the US had no standing army; state militias were the country's sole ground army. As such, it was necessary for people to be armed to protect the country from foreign intrusion. The right to bear arms appears to be linked to the need for a well regulated militia. Today, there is no such need. Therefore, the way I read it, there is no reason today for private citizens to be armed, and certainly not to own automatic weapons. Hopefully lawmakers and the courts will agree.
|
Interesting how you can twist the Second Amendment to make your point. Can I play too? Let's talk about the First Amendment - Separation of Church and State and the removing of prayer in public schools. If our forefathers thought that prayer in public schools was a violation of the First Amendment, don't you think they would have done something about it 1789 (when the First Amendment was ratified) rather than waiting nearly two hundred years until 1962 (when it was taken out of schools)? Certainly. So why let it go on for 200 years? But that's not what the First Amendment was about - it was to keep the State from setting up one religion like the Church of England. But Madalyn Murray O'Hair got her way by twisting the First Amendment to suit her needs. I don't see you complaining about that. Or is it okay to interpret the Bill of Rights the way you want to when it suits you?