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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I mean those who read the Second Amendment as proclaiming the right of citizens to resist the tyranny of their own government, that is, of the government that issued and ratified the Constitution in the first place

Wow... Off the rails in 4 sentences. That's gotta be some kind of record.

The Federal government didn't ratify itself. The Constitution was ratified by the States; by representatives elected by the People. And the People and their representative were very concerned that the new Federal government would devolve into tyranny. This wasn't some abstract concern to them. They had just seen it happen to them in their own country. Their king and their parliament betrayed them and stopped treating them like Englishmen.

They saw standing armies as a threat to liberty. Why? Because the king's standing armies had just been used to oppress them. They saw the concentration of political power as a threat to liberty. Why? Because concentrating power into a few hands in far away London did result in them losing their freedoms. As a result, they demanded limits on the new Federal government. In particular, they demanded that their right to have access to arms be recognized by the new Federal government. They weren't demanding a right to sporting goods. They were demanding the right to the means necessary to overthrow another tyrant like the one they had just rid themselves of.

56 posted on 05/14/2013 10:35:52 PM PDT by Redcloak (Winter is coming.)
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To: Redcloak
I thought Jefferson wrote that it was NECESSARY to overthrow an unjust government should it come to pass.

And I'm pretty sure he meant that literally.

Of course, Jefferson would be considered a dangerous loon, and locked away for his own good if he dared write that in 2013.

Damn Teabagger.

58 posted on 05/14/2013 11:23:10 PM PDT by boop ("You don't look so bad, here's another")
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