Reply #18: The "right" not to be controlled by your government ...

[RoyGBiv]

The people who wrote the Constitution were intellectuals who actually thought about things.

If you begin with the notion that rights are inalienable, granted by a creator, nature, whatever, i.e. not subject to human interference, then you have a bit of a problem with something like gun ownership. The theory of a inalienable right dictates that an individual has it regardless of any other factors, e.g. the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. To keep and bear arms might be construed by some to imply that one has a right to have a gun even if one cannot afford to purchase one, does not have the knowledge to build one of their own, etc. But, the second amendment makes clear that the right of gun ownership may not be infringed by a government. Other factors could in fact prevent a person from owning a gun, to wit, his or her inability to purchase, build, etc. one.