US Office of Legal Counsel: 2nd Am. is an Individual Right

http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
This is persuasive in my opinion. Anti-Second Amendment people deny the existance of a constitutionally protected right to bear arms arguing that it is a states right.

 

Umm... the constitution at one time or another said that black people counted as 3/5ths of a person. That white male landowners are the only people allowed to vote, that slavery is perfectly fine, that indians aren't considered citizens, that alcohol is illegal to import and that you can rent a book from the library without fear of being watched by the government.
Obviously, shit changes over time and that the true beauty of the constitution is that it recognizes this and allowed itself to be changed with the times thus being flexable and considered a 'living document'.
Now, the debate is over whether guns should be legal or not, according to the 1st draft of the consitution they should be legal, but that was 200+ years ago.

 

But change is also a problem with the constitution... If it can always be changed, what protects our rights? Besides, what good would outlawing guns do anyway? It only stops those who care for the law, and someone who is going to use a gun for a crime obviously does not care...

 

Don't get me wrong, i don't want guns criminalized for the same reason i don't want drugs criminalized. it will invariably create a black market, punish responsible users, funnel money to people who shouldn't have it, and create a buttload of crime resulting from the black market.
But the arguement that it is consitutional is not a valid one, seeing as how many times the consitution has been changed and the real genius of the constitution is that it can be changed.

 

That's what amendments are for. The 14th amendment annulled that one.

 

That's exactly my point. I'm saying that if we don't like something in the constitution we can change it. Just because it is in the constitution doesn't mean that it is a great idea, some of the stuff in there was, and some of it was B.S.

 

True.
Prohibition's adoption/repeal is a good example.

I don't understand your Point.

The Second Amendment has not been modified/repealed.

 

But it can be if we want it too... that's my point.
The constitution is not set in stone, and is sometimes wrong, we can change it if we want it to be made right.

 

"States' Rights"...talk of opening a can of worms.

 

What gets me is how anti-gun people always seem to assume that people who work for the government are somehow easier to trust with a gun than an average citizen. The only things that seperate a policeman or a soldier from an average citizen are a badge or a uniform, under those uniforms they are just regular human beings like you and me, and just as prone to antisocial behavior as anyone else. I don't trust them any more than the guy down the street and I don't see why they should be able to have superior firepower. If the US government ever goes to war against it's citizens, it deserves to lose, which is why I am for repealing the 1934 law which limits the weapons a private citizen can own.

 

It's really creepy to see their lack of Marksmanship (on the average).

To me, firearms are benign/non-threatening except in the hands of most Law Enforcement Folks...

 

mm.. a revolution, you just brightened my day. kind of, im going to sleep soon.

 

I wouldn't advocate any sort of violent revolution. Violence should always be a last resort, I'm not going to go out shooting feds, and I hope no one else does either, but if feds are shooting at me I can always shoot back.

We cn have a totally peaceful revolution, the people of the US can just stand up and demand to get their government back any time they want to. The problem is, we're just too damn scared of everything and people seem to have this irrational belief that the government they already distrust is the only thing protecting them from total destruction.

Guns would mostly just serve as a deterrent to a violent counter-revolution. The real power of revolution is that no government in the world can operate without it's citizens' consent, concious or unconcious. The people who drive the tanks are citizens, the people serving food in the cafeteria of the capitol building are citizens, the mailme are citizens, the guys who work at the Lockheed-Martin plant are citizens and so on and so on. They just need to know the reality of what is going on and the reality of the government as just human beings like anyone else.

Heh heh, fat chance. But they're not taking me quietly into the night godsdamnit! I will simply exercise my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I will do my best to just be left alone. But I will not conform my lifestyle around all of the bullshit moralistic laws that have built up over the centuries. No harm, no foul.