Second Amendment. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "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."
So...in my opinion (your own mileages may vary), I'm pretty darn sure our founding fathers did NOT have in mind that we should ALL be allowed to have siege towers, catapults, tanks, canons, etc in our back yards aimed at our neighbors or nearby cities/towns.
So my question is.....why are NON MILITARY NON POLICE people allowed to own machine guns in any form? What is the purpose? To hunt? Maybe for sport since using one will shred what they claim they plan to eat for ....cough...survival. So why? NOBODY should own or have a permit to carry or own an AK whatever or anything similar to it. The ONLY purpose of these weapons are for mass extermination...in a quick manner. To take out as many as possible, usually humans.
I am all for the second amendment, but that means to protect ourselves against harm..which means a hand gun or two, a rifle, a hunting weapon, etc. This does NOT mean we can drag our catapults with us wherever we go. The only purpose for a catapult is the same reason AKs exist. Mass death. And as I stated....I don't think the writers of the constitution had what is happening now, in mind when they wrote it.
The only ones that SHOULD have access to such weapons are the military and police/sheriff/etc (Law Enforcement).
Your thoughts?
Your opinions are not supported by Historical Evidence. First, let’s begin with Cannons. It is a fact that a majority of our “navy” at the time of the Revolution and through the war of 1812, were made up of Privateers. Privateers were granted authority under a Letter of Marque to make war upon enemy ships, and seize them for profit. Essentially legal pirates so long as they only targeted “enemy” ships. These Privateers were armed with Cannons. Privately owned cannons. In fact, they had more than ten cannon for everyone the American Navy had.
Privateers or Merchant Mariners help win the Revolutionary War
So the idea that the Founders could not envision, nor intend, for Privately owned Cannon is false upon it’s face. If you were unaware of this, then perhaps you are starting to get an idea of what the Founders really intended.
As for “military grade weapons” that is also covered in history. But we must step back. Everyone sees the term Well Regulated Militia, and assumes it was similar to our National Guard. Nothing could be further from the truth. When the Militia was required, riders went to each town and settlement, and declared that the Militia had been activated, and they were levied for a percentage of the males in town. You see, every single able bodied free man was in the Militia by law.
Militia Acts of 1792 - Wikipedia
One of the first things codified by the First United States Congress was the Militia Act. This declared as stated above, that every able bodied man was in the Militia. The term Well Regulated meant that the Governor’s of the States could and would appoint officers. Commission them to serve in the Militia. Surgeon’s and the like were normally Warrant Officers. Given a Warrant instead of a Commission. Sergeants are still known as Non Commissioned Officers by the way.
When you were activated, pressed into service. You were expected to obey Military type orders, and adhere to Military type Discipline. This was the term Well Regulated, that officers would be Appointed, and would have the full authority over the Troops.
But wait, we were talking about weapons. Congress found that the types of weapons owned by the citizens were generally speaking too small, that is to say of an insufficient caliber, to be considered viable in a war. The standard military weapon of that day was a .60 or .75 Musket. The Citizens who had to buy their own lead to cast their own bullets, tended to use smaller calibers for hunting, as the larger caliber weapons were subsequently more expensive to shoot in powder, and lead. Congress ordered that weapons be procured for the Militia that would be sufficient for the use in war. While this was never done, the order by Congress shows the intent. Serious weapons were not only intended, but expected by be held by the Citizens.
But what about Machine Guns you will say? First, very few Machine Guns are in the hands of the citizens today. Those that are, are heavily licensed through the ATF. It is expensive to get the “stamp” for the weapon, and you must have a stamp for each weapon. What you are talking about are Semi Automatic Rifles. That is to say that every time you pull the trigger, one round will fire. You must then release the trigger enough for it to reset, before you can fire another round.
But what about the people being able to buy these weapons? In 1718 long before the Revolution of 1776, there was a rapid fire weapon invented called the Puckle Gun.
Puckle gun - Wikipedia
This was known to the Founders, and if you are going to tell me that Benjamin Franklin, the man who foresaw the modern Paratroopers of the Airborne Forces in use by most militaries around the world could not imagine a future with rapid firing weapons, I’ll laugh at you right now. Yes, Franklin was one of the first who wrote after seeing DaVinci’s sketch of a man suspended below a parachute about Paratroopers. He asked the reader to imagine what a battalion of troops could do behind the lines. Imagine how long it would take to raise a sufficient force to stop them. Now, if Franklin could imagine the chaos caused by the Airborne on D-Day, what makes you think that modern weapons would stun him into speechlessness?
Privately Owned Machine Guns, actual machine guns, accompanied Teddy Roosevelt up San Juan Hill.
Rough Riders - Wikipedia
During the lifetimes of the Founders, Cannons went from being fired by “Slow Match” which was really more of a long smoldering wick, to Flintlock. The first breechloading cannons were being tested, so the future was known to the Founders. They knew that science and engineering would create better and more reliable weapons, history had already shown the steady improvement of the sort of thing.
So the Founders intended Military Grade weapons to be in the hands of the Citizens, at least every Able Bodied Free Man. Since we no longer have slaves, and equality between the sexes is a given, we can say that the Founders would expect that right to apply to everyone.
The answers you seek exist. They are found in history. They are not found in the modern reinterpretation of the language, but must be found in the context of the writing. What the words meant at that time, and to those people.
Finally, your characterization of the weapons as being good only for mass death. In short. Nonsense. If that is all the rifles that scare you are good for, then those rifles have failed. Miserably. Because there are literally millions of them that are not doing their job of mass death.
We do not blame Ford when a Drunk plows into a van load of Nuns and Orphans. We do not blame Airbus when the Pilot flies the plane into the side of a mountain. We don’t blame Victorianox when a knife cuts us. We blame the individuals. We blame those who take that action. Only when it comes to guns, do we rush to blame the article, the inanimate object for the disaster.
You are looking at the 2nd Amendment, and all the Amendments wrong. You are looking at them as reasonable restrictions on the public. Turn it around, and remove Reasonable. The Bill of Rights was written like the Ten Commandments. Thou Shall Not. Thou Shall Not abridge freedom of Speech. Thou shall not.
There are no punishments for violating the Ten Commandments listed among them. That comes later. There is no punishment for violating the Bill of Rights. That was supposed to come from the populace. Thou Shall Not.
