Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Md Gun law found unconstitutional [View all]discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)I was (and still am) happy to leave this as a peaceful disagreement but you seem bent on both advancing your OPINION and having the last word.
Here are some quotes for you:
John F. Kennedy: "By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
Thomas Jefferson: "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm: "The Second Amendment was meant to accomplish two distinct goals...First, it was meant to guarantee the individuals right to have arms for self-defense and self-preservation. These privately owned arms were meant to serve a larger purpose as we...and it is the coupling of these two objectives that has caused the most confusion. The customary American militia necessitated an armed public...the militia (being)...the body of the people. The argument that todays National Guardsmen, members of a select militia, would constitute the only persons entitled to keep and bear arms has no historical foundation."
Thomas Jefferson: "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
I can go further into history and to other cultures and find other examples. The basis for the US government is in the Declaration of Independence. In saying "...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." a foundation is made here that any power of the government arises from an analogous power which each individual possesses. From where would an authority or power, possessed by a group, derive from were it not possessed by each individual?