Re: Atheists: America's most distrusted minority

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:56:55 -0500, "Dennis \(Icarus\)"
<ala_dir_diver@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Paul Harper" <paul@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:jhpnb2ddkk3g0aigiki5elshvd5ep04kk3@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:14:13 -0400, Josh Hill <usereplyto@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Well, maybe. But having seen first hand the corruption that has been
enacted upon "freedom of speech" and "right to bear arms" (I really
*really* don't think the founders had automatic or any form of
self-loading armament in mind when they formed that one - I have no
problems with muzzle-loaded muskets, if that's what people want.
Nothing more) by lawyers over the years, I am not so sure.

Well, those had not been invented yet. Still, cannons existed, yet the
clause simply refers to arms - not "small arms".
:-)
Take a look at Federalist 46. The main purpose of the second amendment was
that the people, armed, could act as a check on the government. Couldn't
really do that with muzzle-loading muskets.

And can't really do that with automatic weapons. So -- since we can't
allow people to bare nuclear weapons -- Congress and the courts got
creative and substituted common sense for an essentially obsolete
provision that can no longer serve its original purpose.

--
Josh

"I love it when I'm around the country club, and I hear people talking about the debilitating
effects of a welfare society. At the same time, they leave their kids a lifetime and beyond
of food stamps. Instead of having a welfare officer, they have a trust officer. And instead
of food stamps, they have stocks and bonds."

- Warren Buffett


.

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