Alicia wrote:
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I still maintain that ordinary citizens should not have access to military weapons. They certainly don't need them for hunting.
Who ever said the second amendment is about 'hunting'? Does the phrase "
necessary to the security of a free State" sound like a
hunting term? No, it directly refers to the military role of the people in times of threat or invasion. Now tell me, do people operating in a military capacity have a requirement for military grade weapons? Here, let's fill this out so everybody 'gets it':
"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."
Four simple phrases, each carrying a salient point without wasting or overusing a single one of its 27 words. At the time, it was plain English that any average school child could read and understand. Since it was penned, the meaning of some of those words have been twisted to mean something else entirely. For instance:
"[W]ell regulated" used to mean 'in good working order' or 'properly equipped'. Of course, that has been twisted around to have a different meaning entirely in the intervening 220+ years: 'Control or supervise (something) by means of rules and regulations'. So we go from 'properly equipped' to 'legally controlled and supervised'. Curious, but that's not all:
Now we come to the phrase "being necessary to the security of a free State". Let's define a few words here:
Necessary: Required to be done, achieved, or present; needed; essential.
Security: Free from danger or threat.
Free: Not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes.
State: A nation or territory considered as an
organized political community under one government.
Thus far, we have 'a properly equipped populace, essential to ensure freedom from danger or threat, acting under their own volition in the nation or territory considered as an organized political community'... Wow. That's a lot to pack into just a few words, and we're not even halfway there. Moving on, next, we have:
"[T]he right of the people to keep and bear Arms".
Precisely as written, "the right of the people", not a 'suggestion' or a 'privilege', or a 'license', but a
right. So what is a 'right'? Glad you asked, let's peruse a few more definitions:
Right: A
moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something, or to act in a certain way.
People: The
men, women, and children of a particular nation, community, or ethnic group.
Keep: Have or
retain possession of.
Bear: (of a person)
Carry.
Arms: Weapons and ammunition; armaments.
Wow, this 'interpreting' stuff is tricky, isn't it? So, let's 'interpret:
'The moral or legal entitlement of the men, women and children of the nation, community or ethnic group, to have or retain possession of, and carry weapons and ammunition or armaments...'
There's another big statement in so few words, isn't it? But we're still not done, now for the 'Pièce De Résistance', the final flourish, the prohibition of government action:
"[S]hall not be infringed."
Just one more definition from this:
Infringed: Acted so as to limit or undermine (something); encroached on.
One last interpretation: 'Shall not be undermined or encroached on'. In other words:
Don't even go there!So now we have the 'common sense' 'interpretation' of the second amendment as
not subsequently amended.
In summary, the second amendment is not about 'hunting' or 'sports', it's all about defense. Defense of the person and, by extrapolation, the State. Not only that, but the State itself is prohibited from interfering in the right of the populace to arm and equip itself sufficiently for those purposes. Taking all of this into account, who now thinks that we, any of us, or indeed all of us, could be legally barred from owning and carrying any form of weapon our little hearts should desire? Large or small, concealed or not; at work, at school or in the courtroom, there is no limit to "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" because it "shall not be infringed". And remember: