Now for the dictionary.

Not just any dictionary, but the one that favors your personal interpretation of each and every word to bolster your arguement as to what these 27 words mean.

I will wait for you to find such a reference material. Then I will show you mine.

I choose James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. I choose, not to redefine words, but to read both the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers for sources involving original intent. I choose to study history in terms of George Santayana (those that cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat its failures - paraphrased). I choose to ask, "What happens well law abiding citizens do not have access to the means to protect themselves?" or "Will criminals, who do not follow the law, turn in their firearms?" or "Has their ever been any examples in history of dictators/monarchs/elected representatives demanding the disarmament of the populace?" Then I ask, "how did things go for the unarmed citizens against criminals and oppressive governments without the means to defend themselves or enforce written laws? Did these criminals or agents of said governments respect individual rights? Did they act within the written law of the land? Or, did they claim the existance of a crisis? Or to be acting in the behalf of safety? Or for the sake of the children? Did anyone ever mean it?

Naked agression is easier to swallow when first sugar coated with lies and excuses.

When I see pictures of people lined up against a wall with their hands up and a few soldiers aiming rifles at these people, who is in control? Would it be this way if the 100 about to die at the hands of the 10 had the means to enforce their individual liberties? How many times have you seen this picture? Does it make a difference if it were Nazis, Soviets, Khmer Rouge, the KKK, personal armies, private security, or a common thug pulling the trigger?

The purpose of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution is to guarantee the rights identified by the First Amendment. A law without the ability to enforce it is just words.

I am a militia of one. I represent only myself. I have individual rights and responsibilities. I exercise both and take both as serious as a heart attack. I have no interest in those that do not. I spend no time trying to understand their motives. I am a citizen of the United States of America. I will keep ALL of my rights. I will keep ALL of my responsibilities. I will be damned if I throw any of them away. You'll be damned if you try to take them.

My view is simple, allow guns for protection, but who in hell needs an automatic weapon, a shot gun or an AK 47 in their home!

The worst thing the American government did was allowing the people to have guns better than their own law enforcers have, that was just asking for trouble. Some of the weirdos have missile launchers, sniper rifles, machine guns, bazookas etc

They are all hunkered down waiting for the shit to hit the fan, so they get a chance to use their shiny toys. Let´s face it in many cases they are penis extensions! When you watch the documentaries on the hard core gun owners, most of them seem to share one brain cell between them. There is a type, a certain type of person who likes to own guns, a normal person will lock theirs away hoping never to have to use it.

Guns do not kill people that is true...people kill people with guns.

But if there wasn´t so many around or so easy to get a hold of, then maybe there would be less gun crime and less deaths.

Guns are everywhere now, in kids books, cartoons, vido games, all over the tv, most children think they are cool. It boils down to MONEY & GREED, weapons are a massive market especially in the USA. No way will they ban gun ownership when so much revenue is made from them, same as no way will the USA stop making wars. It´s all about the money honey!

America gets rich off selling terror, making terror, fighting so-called terror...hell 9 times out of ten, they arm the the bad guys and the so-called good guys.

Moderation is the key word here.

History of the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment provides U.S. citizens the right to bear arms. Ratified in December 1791, the amendment says:

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.

Guns have been in my family for as long as I can remember. My Grandfather, my Grandmother, my father and all 4 of my uncles, all shot firearms. My family hails from the American West, New Mexico to be exact. Lots of land, nothing much to do but explore and shoot guns. My Grandmother Anne and Grandfather Lloyd were the proud parents of 5 boys, all very active in the boy scouts and loving the outdoors. My family was/is very responsible when it comes to gun protection. Training, safety and personal, is required to even lay one finger on a gun.

Where my Grandfather was employed, they had a club. This club had a newsletter stating all the events and goings on in this said club. It was fun for the employees and their families to get together and enter in shooting competitions, they would make a whole day of it. My own father was a avid sharp shooter back in the day, almost entering into the Olympics for the sport of it.

It was not violent, it was a sport. Not the same as it is today. Today there is more gun violence and less fun. What happened to just shooting for fun? Why do people have to hurt other humans with their firearms? They must be sick or confused in the head to abuse their right to own a firearm.

At the ripe old age of 18, my firearm training began. My Father took me to the local outdoor shooting range and taught me everything I needed to know about shooting a gun. He taught me himself, after all, he grew up with guns, he was THE best teacher. As it turned out, I was a natural, it was in my blood. I learned to shoot rifles and handguns both. I shot skeet with a rifle and targets with a handgun. I preferred handguns personally, less kickback. I entered one competition and won numerous trophies my first time around. Both as a team and as a individual. I learned the right way to use firearms appropriately, as fun and sport and not for harm and malice.

One Christmas, many years later, my Father gifted me my one and only handgun, I keep it in a safe, locked separately from the bullets, as I have been taught. I don't look at it, I dont play with it, it stays locked up for my protection and my childs protection. I know its there, if I need it, in case of an emergency. My child knows its there, he doesn't ask anything about its presence and I don't tell. When he turns 14, his Grandfather or I will teach him gun safety. Teach him the rights and wrongs of firearms, of owning a firearm, his Second Amendment. He will learn responsibility and then as he grows into adulthood, he will know that owning a firearm is a privilege that no one can take away unless he gives them a reason to.

END GUN VIOLENCE

(What follows was originally a comment on a piece written for this challenge. I decided to submit it as a chllenge entry because it pretty much says what I think about the Right To Bear Arms.)

I think shooting as a sport is totally fine, it is a skill to refine and demonstrate and there is joy in that. But still I think the second amendment stems from something unsavory. The right to bear arms to protect the free state, yet at the time this was written there were many 'not free' in this so called free state. Which group of people were empowered by that amendment? Yes I think people need to defend themselves when threatened, but is owning a gun not preempting paranoia driven scenarios. Many countries do not have a right to bear arms and people sleep quite snugly at night. Back to the unsavory behind this amendment. If a country is established through violence and deceit, well then it follows that the government and citizens feel a need to assert their right to bear arms. There is always a lingering, even if minimal, awareness of the vanquished. And they are pissed off.