I will weigh in on this frequent topic although I do so with much circumspection.
I tend to see the appeals to the right to bear arms in this day and age revolving around the amendment as a defense against our government becoming Gilead (HT:
Handmaiden's Tale) or perhaps even more dire (HT:
The Man in the Castle). I readily grant that these sort of metaphors (less anachronistically so) related to the issue were fresh in the mind's of the founders.
It seems the arguments for a
living document (Bork, Marshall) or a
legal document (Scalia) with respect to the Constitution underlie virtually all the arguments revolving around the Second Amendment.
- Which of these views of the Constitution holds the greater weight in these arguments?
- Is every man a militia member?
- Were the "arms" in the minds of the authors in 1791 the "arms" now accessible to the everyman today?
- Where does the regulation of "arms" bump up against the right to bear said "arms"?
No hidden agenda is at work here. I have an opinion on the topic and have no problem making it clear:
I do not see how the possession by just anyone of "arms" that are distinctly rapid fire in support of mass killings (of any living thing) in very short time periods something that should be made available to "the people to keep and bear", when "people" means folks like ordinary citizens like myself.
Help me think more about this topic. What am I overlooking, in error about, got right, or am on the right track at least?
AMR