After the latest attack in Vegas we are having the usual conversation about gun control and/or gun rights. It is inevitable that this issue be addressed after every attack…especially those with multiple victims.
I chose today to post all my thoughts on the 2nd….instead of like so many othersa drag it out for days….even weeks…..
An interesting point of view from the UK’s The Guardian…..
Its words have fueled centuries of debate – and not until 2008 did the supreme court clearly back an individual’s right to keep a weapon at home for self-defense.
The second amendment has become a badge and bumper sticker, a shield for gun activists and scripture for much of the American right. But like other cherished texts, it is not as clear as many make it out to be.
The amendment 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.”
For most of the republic’s lifespan, from 1791 to 2008, those commas and clauses were debated by attorneys and senators, slave owners and freedmen, judges, Black Panthers, governors and lobbyists. For some, the militia was key; for others the right that shall not be infringed; for yet others, the question of states versus the federal government. For the most part, the supreme court stayed out it.
Source: The right to bear arms: what does the second amendment really mean? | US news | The Guardian
I offer up my thoughts on why the 2nd was put into the Constitution…..my next post will be those thoughts….