Reply #182: That's just completely wrong

[slackmaster]

The Second Amendment, like all other laws, doesn't grant a right to anyone. If it was intended to create a new right it would say "shall have the right" or something similar language (as you will find in the constitution of Cuba). No, it enumerates and protects a right that was already understood to exist at the time it was written. The way our system works is that all rights exist save those that have been curtailed by due process.

Whether you interpret it as protecting the rights of individuals or the rights of the people as a whole doesn't change the obvious fact that its core meaning is to restrict the power of government. It's written in passive voice, but it's quite clear that someone's power is being limited by the phrase "shall not be infringed".