Also, the ammendment 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."
Careful readers will notice it says bugger-all about protecting your right to fire 600 rounds a minute, yet makes particular note of the fact that the entire reason this amendment exists is to support a militia, there not being much of an army in 1776. This entire debate is asinine and is funded entirely by the gun lobby.
It does not give you the right to own guns. The amendment doesn't mean that, has never meant that, will never mean that. This is not about giving a gun to any asshole off the street, it's saying soldiers, defending Americans, on american soil, have a right to guns. Torture the definitions all you want, that's what they said, that's what they meant and no amount of lobbying is going to change that.
Plus, as an added bonus to putting words in the mouths of the people who framed the constitution in america, you have the innumerable logical fallacies they immediately and desperately cling to like a limpet on a rock, in hopes of somehow defending this ridiculous proposition.
Here's a tip. You're not going to use guns to overthrow your government. They have bio-weapons, nukes, tanks and a metric fuck-ton of dudes in bodyarmor. So no. Not unless you're going to make the argument that little jenny at the church social ought to have a concealed-carry thermonuclear warhead.
Every study, as in all of them, have utterly disproved the notion that guns are safer for personal defense than the myriad of non-lethal means of defense. In fact, bringing a gun to bear against a mugger is a swell way to get him to take it out of your hands and shove it up your ass. Oh, you've practiced you say? Guess what. SO HAS HE. Guess who's made a career out of taking guns from stupid people?
You are FAR more likely to kill a friend or family member than any legitimate criminal, saying nothing of accidents. I fondly remember my grandfather's arsenal. The lock on the door was busted so we could have a selection of everything from shotguns to assault rifles to play with, and frequently did, because hey, we were kids and guns are awesome. The fact that we didn't end up shooting each other is a testament to my grandfather making sure to unload each weapon before he put it away, and us mastering Darwinism by not being dumb enough to load the things. I won't bore you with the statistics on how many underage children aren't as fortunate.
You wanna hunt? That's fine. They have 3d blinds and deer stands that are nicer than a lot of apartments. You don't need to bring automatic weapons into the mix.
And while I'm sure the NRA has graciously agreed to throw millions into researching just how amazingly effective having your very own assault rifle is in preventing you from being mugged, there are a lot of other ways to prevent it that are far LESS likely to A) get you killed and B) get your gun onto the street.
You know how criminals get guns? They rob people who have guns! Then THEY have the guns.
You are FAR less likely to have a robber wandering into your house at 3am and FAR more likely to have your teenage kid sneaking in at 3am after a party. Guess which one ends up shot FAR more often?
I get it. I do. Guns are cool. But if you wanna own one, own one because it's cool and because you're the kind of dapper individual who likes to run around strapped just DARING someone to fuck with you. Not because of any artificial illusion of "safety" it might present.
It's a viagra substitute for the terminally under-endowed. Not a safety measure. Let's stop pretending and call a spade a spade.
And FFS stop with the logical fallacies. They're transparent, misleading and utterly disingenuous. And you didn't come up with those arguments, gun lobbyists came up with those arguments. Because they want you to buy guns. Not because they're just so darned concerned about your safety.
