"JimC"  wrote in message 
.  net...
 Robert Musgine wrote:
 http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/r...?ArtNum=206575
 Imagine everyone owning a handgun - what a better world it would be!
 9/11 would have never happened if the passengers were armed.
 Columbine would have never happened if the teachers were armed.
 Free men own guns!!
 Guns keep you safe!!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9lWyp-RQCc
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9lWyp-RQCc
 Whether or not the right to bear arms is "individual" or "collective" 
 isn't the real issue. The real issue is how to interpret and apply both 
 clauses of the Amendment, and in particular, how to relate the first 
 clause -  "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a 
 free state..." - to the second. For the last 70 years, the test for 
 applicability of the 2nd Amendment, as interpreted in a series of Federal 
 Circuit Appeals Court rulings since Miller, has been the "reasonable 
 relation" test, i.e., whether there is a reasonable relation between the 
 intended use or character of the firearm(s) and some form of well 
 regulated militia. It should also be kept in mind that the courts have not 
 interpreted any of the amendments as being universally applicable under 
 all circumstances. And don't forget about protecting our right to own 
 rocket launchers, cannons, tanks, etc., all of which would be necessary to 
 defend the security of the "free state."
 Sounds like you are hoping for an interpretation in which the Court, in 
 essence, simply ignores or discards altogether the entire first clause of 
 the amendment.  Of course, the rednecks claim that the "WELL REGULATED 
 militia" is simply "the people" (based on an obscure case decided in the 
 19th century). - Absolutely absurd! - Regulation is what they don't like, 
 not something they support or endorse.
 Jim
I would take militia to mean what it meant when the Constitution was 
written.
The Constitution of the United States provides on this subject as follows: 
Art. 1, s. 8, 14. Congress shall have power to provide for calling forth the 
militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel 
invasions.
- 15. to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the 
discipline prescribed by congress.
Now it seems who ever is eligible to be called forth to fight wars is the 
militia. The militia is run by the States. So aren't are armed forces (with 
the exception of the national guard) unconstitutional? But then isn't it up 
to what the individual states claim is the militia?
The bottom line is that we need more armed citizens. The government is our 
servant, it is not the other way around. More guns means more freedom.
The right to bear arms is a tradition with deep roots in American society. 
Thomas Jefferson proposed that "no free man shall ever be debarred the use 
of arms," and Samuel Adams called for an amendment banning any law "to 
prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from 
keeping their own arms." The Constitution of the State of Arizona, for 
example, recognizes the "right of an individual citizen to bear arms in 
defense of himself or the State."
In some states their Constitutions say the right to bear arms "shall not be 
questioned"..
We are a union of states.  The Federal Gov't has no voice in gun control, it 
doesn't even have the power to regulate gun ownership. That is left to the 
states and the people respectively.
More guns!