[patrickg_zill]

The object is, that every man should have a gun - Patrick Henry

You might well be a member of your state militia and not even be aware of it...

[flounders]

There is an interesting section that goes into the scholarly interpretation of the 2nd amendment in the Wikipedia article on it, and it's only been in the 20th century and after that we have gotten into what militia, well regulated and whether or not the people have the right or militias.

The main point the founding fathers had for the militias was to defend the country from foreign invaders and from a tyrannical government. I know people think we don't need to worry about tyrannical governments these days, but what if what happened in Libya, Syria and Egypt started happening here? How would we fix that kind of a situation?

[pasquinelli]

the hypothetical tyrant just wins over the gun nuts who shoot up the regular folks. tidy.

[spacehome]

The more people that own guns the better, then. That way a minority can't run things.

[Frondo]

This is certainly the position of the NRA, but it is not a position that has been leading to good results for society here, up to now.

[pasquinelli]

except for all the negative consequences of everyone owning guns.