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Your selective reading of the 2nd Amendment

In Reply to: It is ablolutely absurd to think that anyone could do away with every gun posted by Chris on November 09, 1999 at 00:23:21:

Chris, in quoting the 2nd Amendment, you wrote:

"... the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

But as you well know, that's only part of it. The entire 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."

Pity it's such a poorly written amendment, but you can't divorce the first half from the second. This amendment says that you may have arms in conjunction with being a well regulated militia. It does not say that you can amass weapons in your basement as a solo agent.

Furthermore, while it's true we can't get rid of all guns, we can get rid of the vast majority of them, and that way the United States can stop being the leader of the industrialized world in gun deaths.
We're number one!

Follow Ups:

• Freedom, Security, and Firearms. Cynic November 10 1999 (3)
  • Freedom is possible without guns MDG November 10 1999 (2)
    • From the peanut gallery Nikhil Jaikumar DSA MA, USA November 11 1999 (1)
      • Oh dear MDG November 12 1999 (0)