N1EE wrote:
Origins of the Right to Bear Arms

Too often, public debate on gun control and related
issues seems to takes place in a historical vacuum.

Almost *all* public debates take place in a vacuum of all knowledge or
even common sense. It seems to be a required condition, maybe it's just
the lowest common denominator?

Still, this seems to be very plain English

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
"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."

Which is obviously baloney, because the people's right to keep & bear
arms is infringed 99 ways from Sunday. Starting with the fact that guns
cost money! But let's look at some historical context.

The Consitution was enacted for an agrarian democracy, plagued by
squabbling neighbors and threatened by colonial powers. The struggle
between the Federalists and the Republican-Democrats was just beginning.
Pretty much every gainfully employed citizen already had a gun, so it
was useless to try and undo that. Nor would it have been desirable when
there was no organized police. In short, things were very different.

The Constitution has changed and evolved in lots of ways over the
centuries. For example, there was no prohibition against a State
seceding. The Constitution does not grant the federal gov't the power to
invade & subdue individual states which do not comply with it's
wishes. But that is exactly what happened. The right to keep and bear
arms has been amended (which is a bit politer than infringed) under law
so many times that it is nearly non existant. And the gun-o-phobes still
aren't happy. At some point in the not too distant future, gun ownership
for the average citizen will be illegal. Then they'll start on dogs....

Given the way people drive, it sometimes occurs to me that the Founding
Fathers might rethink their opinion about whether the average citizen
should be allowed to have a gun. But that doesn't mean I like the situation.

Regards- Doug King