My only post about guns: Gun rights are NOT like other rights.

[redgreenandblue]

I am not fundamentally opposed to gun ownership. My dad owns plenty of them. In my extended family many people have guns.

That said, I don't think the right to have a gun is in any way a prerequisite for having a "democracy" or a "free state", as some apparently do.

There is an international consensus of what rights are essential for a place to be considered a "free state". Such are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, an intact and fair electorial process, habeus corpus, and so on.

The "right to keep and bear arms" is not on that list. It is specific for the US. It could vanish tomorrow, and that would be of zero relevance to the question of whether the US is a free state or not. Some countries have strict gun control and are still democracies.

So my point: I don't think it makes sense to put the right to bear arms on the same level as other rights. It is a right that by historical coincidence exists in the US, but not one that is in any way relevant for the integrity of the democratic state, as is for instance freedom of speech. Furthermore, I do not think that private gun ownership is, or has ever been, a deterrance against tyranny.

[11 Bravo]

1. If it's not too late, you might want to edit the "keep and bare arms" part.

[redgreenandblue]

2. I come from the south. There, it's "bare arms".

[kctim]

3. The majority of Americans

and the Supreme Court disagree with your opinion.

And the fact that our form of government, with ALL of our rights intact, has endured for the past 200+ years while all others have failed, proves your opinion is wrong and very naive.

[IdaBriggs]

6. "all others have failed" -- ???

I do not think this is true. Where are those blasted Canadians when we need them?

[Meg_Griffin_1]

10. Leave my guns alone PERIOD!

I do not trust the government NO MATTER what party when they start talking gun control.
I have been CCW for a very long time and as of today I have yet to exercise my right to defend my self, and would love to keep it that way.

BUT if the day ever came I am more then ready....

[jorno67]

12. Shut up Meg.

[xchrom]

4. Du rec. Nt

[hack89]

5. It is in the Bill of Rights

The fact of the matter is that as long as the 2A remains part of the Bill of Rights, gun rights do enjoy the same status as the "freedom of speech, freedom of the press, an intact and fair electoral process, habeus corpus, and so on."

Your only viable course of action is a Constitutional amendment. The alternative is the government deciding for us which rights we really should have.

[rustydog]

9. Which was already done in George Bush's "Free speech zones"!

[hack89]

11. So are you suggesting we use Bush as our model of democratic government? nt

[jorno67]

7. If you think about it...

It's really the right to have the means to kills someone. If the US was born much earlier would we have things like "The National Sword Association"?

[L0oniX]

8. YAwn.