Isn't that Section 2 of the constitution? The right to bear arms if a member of an organised militia or something. The one that has been misinterpreted to mean any **** can have a gun? Probably best not to go there.
Historically Militias in the US were what the army was as we did not have a standing army in the beginning. This is the main force that fought you all in the revolution. Basically men in towns would form a militia and drill so that if they needed to be called into a war there would be someone that knew how to act like an army. Since the 1970's its really something quite different and is a group of White Far Right Racists and Nationalists who do not believe in the authority of the federal government. They dont go by just the militia movement catch all anymore they will also have other names such as the sovereign citizens movement. Their big hay day was in the 1990's at Rubby Ridge and the Oklahoma City bombing. They are always looking for a shoot out/suicide by the feds or some other confrontation in order to start a civil war/revolution. These idiots are claiming they took over a federal building with 150 armed men. The reality is that they walked into a cabin in a wilderness section of a national forest that forest rangers use to sleep in when they are counting migratory birds, the place is basically abandoned 99% of the year and they only have about a dozen idiots with rifles. There is a sovereign citizens group about 2 miles down the road from me (they live in the nastiest trailer park you have ever seen) and to show you what they are like one of them had a flat tire on the road by my house and a cop stopped to help him change his tire and he pulled out an AK47 and unloaded it at the cop. The cop shot the guy and somehow he wasnt hit himself.
Received an email with this today, can't see somewhere like Scarborough using something like it to attract visitors
I was in Disney Springs late on Christmas Day when mayhem erupted, and about 50 or so people came charging into the eating place we had just ordered some food from. The mass of people knocked everything flying pushing people over as they barged into the kitchen to hide from an alleged shooting next door in The Bongos restaurant. People were running everywhere in panic, shouting about the shooting. My Brother was in The Rainforest Cafe at the other end of Disney Springs and people ran in there shouting about the shooting and to hide. The commotion eventually died down and later, it turned out to be some 70 old trying to fight with the Restaurant manager. How the hell this turned into an alleged shooting, god only knows. People were hurt in the mayhem with people running from the area. Their reaction to rumours was unbelievable. http://www.wesh.com/news/deputies-respond-to-incident-at-disney-springs/37134106
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy accidentally shot his mother in the back, leaving the passionately pro-gun woman seriously wounded and facing possible charges, according to Florida officials. Staunch gun advocate Jamie Gilt, 31, who just a day earlier had boasted online about her toddler’s shooting prowess, was cruising down a highway with her son in the back when he shot her on Tuesday. The bullet went through the seat cushion. “Our investigation has revealed that the firearm was legally owned by the victim and the child came to possess the firearm without the victim’s knowledge,” Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Gilt, who is in a stable condition, was so badly wounded that police have been unable to talk to her from her hospital bed. But they warned that she could face police action after they work out exactly how the boy — who was unharmed and is now with relatives — got his hands on the gun. “Florida statute makes it a misdemeanor for a person to store or leave, on a premise under his or her control, a loaded firearm in such a manner that it is likely a child can gain access to the firearm,” said the statement. What appears to be Gilt’s Facebook page suggests she is passionate supporter of the right to bear arms, including pictures of her with weapons. On Monday she concluded a discussion on Facebook about possessing weapons for self-defense by boasting: "Even my 4-year-old gets jacked up to target shoot the .22." http://www.thejournal.ie/jamie-gilt-gun-2651503-Mar2016/?utm_source=twitter_self
The thing about the second amendment is that it's there to give American citizens as the majority the legitimacy to overthrow their federal government if it becomes tyrannical. In the event of that happening, they will have already lost before it has begun. Think about it, the US has the largest military expenditure in the world. If it came down to it the American citizens with a stockpile of handguns, shotguns, assault rifles and even grenades and maybe the odd bazooka would be up against tanks, drones, fighter jets, nuclear weapons (ICBMs, SLBMs, bombers) the world's biggest navy to blockade supplies from either coast etc. etc. If an American revolution against the state occured, the state would trounce them everyday of the week. Back in 18th and 19th century when the US military was nowhere near as strong maybe the second amendment made sense but after the military-industrial complex the argument that the second amendment is necessary is a load of bollocks. I'd respect gun-owners a lot more if they just admitted the reason they own guns is because they like guns, rather than selling people this daft idea that they 'need them'. I mean, **** it, I've fired guns before, it's fun, but nobody needs one. In fact, the idea that citizens need guns to defend their freedom just proves how fragile their freedom really is.
Loved the couple of years in the Army Cadets in my mid teens. East Yorks Regiment with the company based on Holderness Rd near Craven Park. Had a .22 rifle range where I struggled to hit the target! Fired a 303 at Beverley Barracks and a Bren gun at Catterick camp. Wouldn't let me chuck a hand grenade but was allowed a go with a ' Thunderflash.' Our company had a champion soccer team and we won the ACF Cup in the Hull & ER Area. Happy memories.
Police say five people have been shot dead in an “ambush-style attack” in suburban Pittsburgh and at least two gunmen are at large. --------- Five dead wouldn't necessarily be enough to make the news normally. It's the two men on the run and the awfulness of a mass killing at a party that makes it sexy I suppose. Pittsburgh shooting: five killed and three injured http://gu.com/p/4he9d?
We don't have guns to protect ourselves from the government (a few crazies might believe that, but other than proclaiming suchobnoxiously on the internet they really have no influence here). We have guns to protect us from criminals. I've had to use mine before. Merely pointing it at the intruder caused him to flee. Thank God I didn't have to fire the damned thing, but thank God I had it.
Not necessarily. If the grunts where eventually appraised of the reality of the relationship between state and citizen and their part in it they may then realise where their true allegiance lies. It's often assumed that the military is and always will be always aligned with the state, as history shows, this isn't always so. Your line:- "In fact, the idea that citizens need guns to defend their freedom just proves how fragile their freedom really is." Is about as strong an argument for an armed citizenry as could be.
Not just that either if we are going down the road of hypotheticals. Any revolution or attempt to overthrow the government would quickly break down into a civil war fought by the states. We have almost 500,000 National Guard troops in the US, those troops have advanced weaponry including jets, tanks etc. Those troops are controlled by each State's Governor and are located within those states and are only partially controlled by the Federal Government. California for instance has over 21,000 State troops controlled by Gov Brown located within California. There are thousands of other troops not controlled by Gov Brown as well. If you went down the hypothetical of a civil war you could use our last civil war as an example. Before the war started all the Cadets and troops from each state left their posts and returned to their state or moved to locations within their states to join the states forces against the North. One would imagine that Californians would not fight Californians just like in the 1800s Virginians left to join Virginians.
