Psychotik Mouse

As typically happens after a shooting, the debate begins (yet again) over gun control. As you may know there was a recent shooting at Virginia Tech which claimed over 20 lives and left a bunch of people wounded. I haven't read the details, and it really isn't relavent to this post, but it got me thinking about the Second Amendment and wondering... is it even relevant anymore?

Let's think about it for a minute. To start, read the text of the amendment:

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The part that gets me wondering is the beginning: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..." Here's the thing, in the 18th century when the nation was still very young we didn't have a standing army. In fact, the Continental Army (the guys that fought the British) were mostly farmers and other civilians who banded together for the common cause. The founding fathers knew that we'd need soem form of defence, so it didn't make sense to take away people's guns. Add to that the need to have guns for hunting and the like and there was a definite need for people to be able to keep their guns.

Ok, so it made sense back then, but what about now?

Now we have a standing army that is one of the best equipped in the world. In addition to that we have a National Guard we can call in during times of need. Hunting is a sport and isn't a requirement for survival anymore. So the question is this; is the second amendment really all that necessary? Are we just hanging on to this bit of antiquated legislature because we're simply too stubborn to give up something we don't really need anyway?

Now, I want to make it clear that I'm not really advocating one way or the other. I'm just thinking. I don't necessarily believe that making guns illegal will change much... it'll just mean that the people who are currently getting weapons illegally will continue to do so. It will really only disuade those people who are already honest to begin with, and I don't believe they're the ones we need to protect ourselves from. That said I also don't believe that there's a really good argument for keeping all guns legal. Perhaps there's a happy medium... I don't know.

I suppose you could look at it from the stand point that to repeal the second amendment would be setting a bad precedent and could open the door to other rights being restricted or taken away. I can kind of see the argument, but I think it's weak. We're talking about amending the constitution to reflect the needs of the current times. I can't see things like free speech and freedom from religious oppression ever becoming irrelevant.

Anyway, as I said before I'm not really arguing one way or the other. I'm just thinking and figured I'd throw my thoughts out there and see what people thought.

It's entirely possible I'm simply mad as hatter.