[180grain]

Under this standard, almost no federal or state gun laws measure up. You could lose your rights only as a result of due process (e.g. conviction for a violent felony).

How can the courts take away a GOD given RIGHT? If it can be taken from you, then it's only a Privilege to be administered has the courts or the Politicians see fit.

[RKV]

That would make the 2nd Amendment an absolute right. If you look carefully you will find no such thing in the BOR. What you are saying would give a felon the right to be armed while serving his term in jail. I don't see that as rational. If you look at colonial and early republican practice you will see how this was interpreted at the founding - I would be happy enough to get back to that (with the exception that native americans, women and blacks were citzens ;) ).

[robertpaulsen]

If the RKBA were an unalienable (God-given) right, then everyone would have that right -- children, ex-felons, the insane, the mentally retarded -- all God's creatures.

Your RKBA is a fundamental right (some call it a natural right) which is regulated by your state when you become a member of society and are then protected and governed by those laws.

You want to be a mountain man, separate from society, governed by the laws of nature, fine. You have the right to defend yourself however you wish.

But, once you become part of a society, a citizen of a state, you are governed by those laws.