> Key wrote:
> The right to bear arms. IF we're going to change an amendment because the majority of state laws are dictating what those freedoms are under gun control laws, then we might as well change ALL the amendments to current standards.
I mean our founding fathers hadn't a clue of how out of control some of those amendments were going to get. I mean back then, not everyone could afford a rifle or a pistol and they probably thought the only people that could afford weapons like that would be the government, the military, and the truelly rich.
They hadn't a clue about such things as Mass Production. Competitive Business. Which had made such weapons easy to procure by any Tom, Dick, or Harry. Which all owned firearms.<
Change an amendment?? They're finally getting back to its roots.
Eli Whitney used mass-produced parts for rifles as early as 1797. That's 14 years after ratification but I think they could have changed it if they felt like it.
In England able-bodied men had to muster for militia when called up by Lords Lieutenant. The colonies carried over the practice. The colonies sent volunteer militia to help the redcoats against the French and Indians for nearly 100 years before the Revolution. Most of their arms privately owned--and where individuals didn't own them, the states allowed rich guys to buy a railroad car full of rifles, a railroad car full of uniforms, and call themselves "Colonel". Up until WWI, the majority of Americans under arms in our wars were volunteer militia. Even in the Civil War, the draftee regular Union Army was only 1/3 of the force.
Up until the 1870s Americans used muskets. Lead balls were rammed down barrels on top of powder charges. Troops carried lead molds and if you got a neighbors ammo, you could melt down the ball into one that fit your gun.
Breech-loader rifles with magazines of cartridges changed that. A guy with a .30-06 could not use 7mm Mannlicher ammo. Which meant when Iowa militia with .30-06 rifles went to Cuba with two railroad cars of ammo, their ammo had better follow the troops. THey couldn't use ammo sent by New Yorkers with 7mm Mannlicher rifles. They'd end up on the beach running out of ammo--and that's what DID happen.
Enter the Dick Act of 1906. It created a National Guard system where the Federal government would buy arms for state militias, so that in case of national emergency, California guardsmen could use Michigan ammo. Didn't matter. It was uniform. The National Defense Act of 1917 further integrated the "militia" into the federal Army.
BUT-- warfare was just one job of the militia as intended by the 2nd amendment, and further, if Congress can "cancel out" the Bill of Rights with laws...OUCH
The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.
