I can't seem to muster the same interest in what Jews think about gun laws that you have. Why is that? I also don't care what Hispanics as a group think, or even Poles or Italians. It just doesn't interest me, yet it seems to be a burning issue with you for some reason. I'll let that speak for itself. I didn't take much note of your German surname, until you started harping on Jewish opinions, Jews being a small minority among persons who might be called upon to vote on this type of issue. I hadn't brought up Jews in the context of the gun laws at all. Indeed, the pictures I posted lead off with a picture of Polish children imprisoned at Auschwitz. I won't go into how the Poles suffered and died at the hands of the German Nazis during World war Two; I'm sure you are well aware.
On more substantive points, I don't say that the probable failure of armed revolt against a dictator is a reason to deny people gun ownership--I just don't think that this "opposition to a dictator" argument makes a lot of sense as an argument for it. Defense against criminals makes more sense as an argument.
The Second Amendment does not, at least in the view of our federal courts, provide a general right to individuals to own arms. It is poorly drafted, but could have said: "The right of individual citizens to bear arms shall not be abridged." It doesn't, but contains language about "the right of the people", and a "well-regulated militia." Parts of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights deal with relations between the federal government and "the people", and often the context shows that "the people" is a synonym for "the states." If this was how the drafters viewed the complicated language of the Second Amendment, then what the 2nd Amendment means is that the federal government cannot ban well-regulated state militias. Individuals with guns in their dressing tables do not equate with well-regulated state militias.
But I am more than willing to let "the people" decide this. I would be more than happy to see the NRA push a gun control case to the Supreme Court, on a claim of a 2nd Amendment violation.
Or, you and like-minded citizens, can face the ambiguities of the 2nd Amendment head on by proposing a constitutional amendment which will finally, once and for all, clarify the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
You would have to convince your fellow citizens that such an Amendment would be a good thing, but since you are quite convinced that your arguments make the most sense, you should not shrink from the effort. |
