vito
Member
It is amazing to me that the misunderstanding of the 2nd Amendment is as widespread as it is. Maybe the forty or fifty years preceding the Heller decision was very successful in convincing folks that the 2A "really" means that the states can have a national guard organization, and has no relevance to the individual. This is the argument that I have heard over and over when bringing up the 2A. It is astonishing to me that the average person has so little historical awareness both of the intentions of the Founding Fathers that are clearly stated in the Federalist papers and related contemporaneous writings, or in the reality that for most of our nation's history the right to own and bear arms was unquestionably accepted. I have tried pointing out to people that the Bill of Rights all refer to individual rights and restrictions on the government and how illogical to think that in the midst of this Bill of Rights the founders inserted the 2A to give a right to the states. Usually this argument is responded to with acknowledgement that the other early amendments refer to individual rights, but not the 2A due to the phrase "well regulated militia". School children are apparently no longer taught to have a sense of reverence and respect for the Constitution at all. Most people seem to think that Congress can pass any law and that the Constitution is just some old-fashioned document that no longer has real standing let alone relevance to today's world. What is more disturbing is when I hear people say that the President should just ban all guns, or confiscate all guns, etc. as if the President has that unilateral authority. When I was younger I was amazed at how the German people had given up the little democracy they had and allowed a dictator to have unlimited power over them. My guess is that there are a sizable number of Americans who would casually give President Obama the same authority that the Germans gave Hitler because they believe that Obama would further their personal interests, and the Constitution be damned. So when it comes to an emotional issue (to most folks) about the rights of gun owners, I should not be surprised at the ignorance and illogic of their positions.