B) “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
In your opinion, "A" and "B" above mean exactly the same thing. The extra words in "A" were added because the Founding Fathers thought they looked cool.
No, "A" just gives further explanation, however "B" is the key phrase. "...the right of the people..."
The people are telling the government that this (keeping and bearing arms) is the right of the people and government is not granted the power to infringe on it.
Your reading would be that the "extra words" change the meaning such that the federal government can infringe the right to keep and bear arms for any purpose other than militia duty. Is that not so?
"A well-read electorate being necessary to a free nation, the right of the people to own and read books shall not be infringed."
The sentence above would then mean that the right own and read books is limited to books about elections. Isn't that what you support?
In reply to #67...
The first part of the phrase “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” is explanatory, in other words is gives reason why the second part of the statement is there. It defines the basis on which the whole sentence exists.
An example of modern wording be... “Because a properly outfitted militia, being necessary to the security of the freedom of the citizens, the right of the people to keep and carry arms shall not be infringed.”
The wording is quite clear to anyone who understands English. All the “collective” rights BS arguements that are out there are based on pathetically poor English language skills. But it’s not hard to see how people today misread the Amendment since most of those idiots aren’t even “Smarter than a 5th grader.”
Mike