General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The 2nd Amendment was NOT written "to protect us from our gov't," FFS... [View all]ElbarDee
(61 posts)from the context of those who wrote it at the time then there were no lines to be drawn.
The point was to protect the people from oppressive government, i.e. the British government, dictating to the people their actions. The colonials also had a great fear of a standing army and did away with the one mustered for the revolution right after. (And we continue to do it to this day, always downsizing when we don't need a huge army- the last time was under Bill Clinton in the 1990s)
When written the individual was responsible to have a gun and form when called to defend the town or state. It would have been beyond stupid to say, "Have a gun, but make sure it's not a modern military weapon with a bayonet, and gawd forbid it's a brown bess musket! Something like a 38 caliber squirrel gun will be fine."
However in today's society where we have Law Enforcement and a huge standing army it makes no sense to have guns in the hands of the people.