[magslinger]

“The Framers plainly did not envision ad hoc groups of armed individuals beyond state control (i.e. a ‘citizens’ militia’) as a constitutional check on tyranny,” Mr. Schreiber wrote. “They saw them as unruly mobs that must be quelled.”

Mr Schreiber might want to read just a little about the American Revolution. What he describes as something the framers did not envision is a pretty good description of the the war the framers had just finished.

[Psycho_Bunny]

"The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious, if it were capable of being carried into execution. A tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss. It would form an annual deduction from the productive labor of the country, to an amount which, calculating upon the present numbers of the people, would not fall far short of the whole expense of the civil establishments of all the States. To attempt a thing which would abridge the mass of labor and industry to so considerable an extent, would be unwise: and the experiment, if made, could not succeed, because it would not long be endured. Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year"

-Hamilton, The Federalist No. 29

[sig226]

I always get a kick out of that bit of illogic. The authors and signers of the Constitution knew exactly what guns could do in the hands of citizens. They had just fought a bloody war against their own government and won.

Modern liberals want us to believe that they forgot about that when they wrote the bill of rights. They didn't forget about it when they wrote the parts about unlawful search and seizure, they didn't forget about it when they wrote the other stuff about limits of power and rights of citizens, but they had no idea that people might contemplate taking up arms against an oppressive government.

They must be shocked even now.

</sarc>