I have one separate comment to make to tramp116:
You said:
And no, Larry, I do not consider the 2nd Amendment to be cast in stone. There's that little bit about "a well regulated militia...". It does not give an individual an absolute right to own any firearm he or she desires. By that logic, I have the right to buy, own & shoot a 155mm field gun. Or a fully armed Sherman tank. Or a B-52 with M-62 nukes
Consider this quote from Thomas Jefferson:
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
It is not primarily about self defense. It is about revolution against a government that has become tyrannical (which by the way if you consider tyranny throughout history, you can see more than just faint beginnings in our government). So if you are going to overthrow a government that has become oppressive, which Jefferson knew first hand, you might want a good amount of weapons on the side of the people (rebels). And if you think that some rebels or regular citizens has no chance against our government with its complete arsenal and army, think of the American Revolution or the rebels we are currently dealing with in Afghanistan. We should have cleaned that up in no time with our BIG army, right? And can you afford a fully armed Sherman tank? If you think handgun rounds are expensive...
The beauty of our Second Amendment right and those enumerated in the Bill of Rights, is the avoidance of specifics. The first amendment says nothing about wearing buttons or carrying signs to show disapproval, but those are protected by freedom of speech, right? So why not the fully autos and the Sherman Tank. You still can't drive over your neighbors property, kill his dog or his wife, etc. Those would violate other reasonable rights he retains.
As a conclusion, I find that those who are continually returning to the statement that they like to be "reasonable" about this, are the ones holding the most complex arguments. Simplicity is beauty. The amount of words required to back up just one of your opinions, i.e. the mind is better that the gun, shows us that it may be more complex than you can handle.