emsparks, on Oct 21 2003, 07:49 PM, said:
The second Amendment reads as follows:
Amendment II
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.
Source:
http://www.archives....transcript.html
If I remember my history right this Amendment, was written by John Adams, one of the most strident of the revolutionaries. It has been speculate that this is the ultimate check and balance on governmental power.
I would point out that in saying “A well regulated Militia,” it dose not say regulated by whom. It does not say that the federal government, or the state governments will maintain this militia. In the day that this was written militias where local affairs, usually encompassing a few towns, or a county at best.
I would also point out that the term used is "Arms," not pistol, not rifle, not shot gun, but, “Arms!” a much more inclusive term.
Remember it is said that "power corrupts, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely."
Just some points to ponder:
The once and future:
Sparky::
One, John Adams was actually one of the more cautious of the Founding Fathers. This is the guy who defended the British soldiers accused in the "Boston Massacre," after all.
Two, I would think that the example of Iraq would once and for all kill the idea that an armed citizenry is a deterrent to tyranny. There is a country that was literally swimming in AK-47s and other forms of military weaponry that were easy to buy for Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds alike, yet the population was still kept under control by a totalitarian government.