Ah politics!
I've spent quite a bit of time on facebook reponding to people who claim to protect our constitution, yet don't understand it completely...
If this is a jab @ the current gun control legislation, I'd love to hear a comparible suggestion to curb the gun violence in our country. Most will call it gun registration, however most firearms are already tracked 1968.
Banning assault weapons I find ridiculous, look @ the war on drugs, that's been working beautifully. Magazine restriction I can understand. We need to enforce what laws we have, and there needs to be additional laws written to plug the holes in the existing law. Crimes committed with firearms need a manditory minimum sentence applied to the time for initial crime as well.
The second amendment doesn't say what weapons you can have, or how many. But if you believe they legally shouldn't be able to hold a ban, you already cannot buy machine guns, tanks, F-18's and napalm. So to believe in "unfettered access" you must also agree that you should be able to purchase any weapon available to the military, and that's a scary, scary thought.
Our constitution, while great, isn't infallable. It's a historical document, and to read it without the context of the time it was written is absurd. Even one of the most integral men who wrote a great deal of the constitution knew this, and understood that humanity will grow and advance:
"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as ne discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change in circumstances, institution must also advance and keep pace with the times." - Thomas Jefferson 1816
Powerful words coming from a man who helped write our constitution. His foresight knew society will evolve, and technology is a game changer.
We don't need to eliminate the 2nd amendment, rather define it clearly, in our "modern" context. Only problem is I sure don't trust any politician of today to have the same level of intelligence and unbiased persona to come up with a compromise.
No matter what, people will only send to washington those who will give them the biggest slice of pie, and therein lies the problem.
I mean, there is nothing stopping anyone from easily amassing an aresenal and selling to the black market for their own personal gain. .