Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjamuser
Actually, the 2nd Amendment said that STATE militiamen were entitled to "bear" their arms. Their arms were black powder muskets that were single shot and required a long time to reload and malfunctioned often. They had an accuracy range of about 50 meters. Nothing in the 2nd Amendment said that "individuals" should "bear arms". That is just the NRA's convenient interpretation.
..........Today's arms shoot with each trigger pull for a possible rate of fire of 45 shots per minute with little recoil and accuracy out to about 500 meters.
............The 2nd Amendment was purposely written ambiguously for its long-ago time. It did NOT come down from GOD and written in stone, like MANY WOULD LIKE US TO BELIEVE.
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Wrong and wrong. That's NOT what the 2nd amendment states or means. At the time it was written, we did not have a standing army. "Militias" were raised when a call went out for volunteers, many of whom were just farmers and frontiersman. That "militia" did not have an arsenal to hand out guns, the volunteers had to bring their own. Therefore, INDIVIDUALS were guaranteed the right to "bear arms", not just "state militiamen". In 1787, unless you were a city dweller, a gun was a necessity---hunting for food, protection against whomever, etc. Even 100 years later in the "wild west", the 2 most heinous crimes (punishable by hanging) were horse theft and gun theft, because without either you had a very short life expectancy. As Obi Wan Kenobi siad to Anikan Skywalker in Star Wars episode 2 after retrieving his light saber---"This weapon is your life"
Full disclosure----I've never even held a gun in my hand.