The Court's ruling will be very interesting. I listened to the oral arguments online (I am an attorney, but not a 2nd Amendment expert), and they spent some time pondering whether "keep and bear" is two things or one, and what the phrase means. No attorney responded, as I would have, that "keep" means retain ownership of, and "bear" means carry. Both are essential to the right, as each one alone is empty and meaningless. If I can own a firearm but never use it, what good is the right? And, if I can use a forearm, but cannot own one, I can't even fathom how that would work.
One thing the justices seemed to agree upon was that the "arms" contemplated by the Second Amendment pertained to muskets and pistols, but not canon or other heavier weapons. Who knows how they will apply it to 21st Century firearms? I am betting this will form the basis for an argument against "automatic weapons" being covered by the right. And you can forget about RPGs, tanks, jet fighters, bombs, nukes, etc.
Maybe the definition has changed over the decades, but I thought "keep" originally meant "upkeep" or "maintain" and "bear" originally meant "to carry into battle".
Also, I thought that "keep and bear" was a phrase like "cruel and unusual" or "necessary and proper", and was not meant to have separate meaning. Maybe it does today.
Exactly, I do not think that “shall not be infringed” refers to a type of weapon, like a grenade or bomb, but rather to the right in itself.
While I grew up in South Carolina and have never been to Wisconsin, I have loved the Packers since I was a small boy. It has always been my dream to go to Lambeau for a homegame. I would love to see the Pack play the Bears sometime around the 2nd or 3rd Sunday in October. That would be heaven! Problem is, I don’t think I could ever afford the tickets. So what I will probably do is get tickets for an exhibition game instead. Still, it will Lambeau and the Pack!!
>I AM a huge Packers fan —<
Unless you’re over 250 pounds, I’d say that you’re an average fan. Huge would need to be somewhere over 400 lbs.