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"The Right to Bear Arms" | by Illiad | 2005-03-26 14:49:07 |
| By the time our Founding Fathers |
by webishop |
2005-03-26 15:33:51 |
wrote the Second Amendment, firearms were not at all uncommon. Since the big fear at that time was that the (still rather fragile and untried) union could easily be toppled by a foreign power stepping in or a rogue state in the union attempting to turn the union into its own form of nation. Within this context, it makes very good sense to want each state to keep a "well regulated" militia. (I would tend to interpret "well regulated" as 'well trained.' And it also makes perfect sense to have these dudes authorized to carry firearms, since that was how they won their freedom in the first place.
My view of the Second Amendment is that it is the closest thing that we in this country will ever come to attaining the Holy Grail.
By now, the fears that concerned our founding fathers have disapeared. It is not now realistic to think of another country overthrowing us. It is not now realistic to think of one state going rogue and overrunning the rest of the union. (Although I suppose a case could be made that Texas is now doing just that.) And it is now certainly ridiculous to imagine a state militia standing up to the US Army should any state decide that the Federal Government has gone too far in the wrong direction (whatever that means).
An equally cogent case could be made that the possession of a firearm distorts one's thinking to the point of rendering oneself almost complete unable to defend one's self in any other way than by use of that firearm. (Which renders one defenseless when the BADDY takes your gun from you.)
However, these are logical arguements. The Second Amendment is a Religious Icon in the American Belief System. This debate is fueled by those in power who want to keep the rest of us occupied with pointless endeavors...it is just so much smoke. We will continue to debate the issue endlessly. We will continue to stretch new interpretations from that poor tortured passage. And all of it amounts to just so much mental bubblegum. While we're watching what the Magician does with his right hand, we fail to see what his left is doing.
So much drama. Such darkness. |
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