...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ...If private citizens do not have a power, they cannot consent to have the government exercise it on their behalf.
If I do not have the right to own a fully-automatic machine gun, I cannot delegate that right to the government.
Duncan,
Forget it. Fully automatic weapons were otulawed some time ago. In the hands of a good marksman, an AR-15 is quite effective and should the need arise, the skills acquired in its use can be easily transferred to an M-16.
Basically I agree with you in principle, but it isn’t worth hanging your hat on at this point. The sheeple are a stupid and gullible bunch.
Personally, I like my Garand. It did just fine in WW II.