amfliberal: I am opposed to the war on drugs and gun control, because they both infringe upon my personal freedom to do what the fuck I want as long as it doesn't infringe someone else's right.

hevusa: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."

This quote speaks for itself There are no addendums, no exceptions, no ifs ands of maybes. This quote is indicitave of the exact ideals that the forefathers where attempting to construe, that American citizens have the right to bear arms NO MATTER WHAT. The fact that this was the second statutes of the bill of rights right after freedom of speech just shows you how highly they held this RIGHT. Yes, it is in the context of a militia, but who comprises the militia? Private citizens. Thusly if private citizens can't arm themselves there can't be a militia. The militia is there to defend the homeland should the military fail to do so. The fact that there are 500 million guns in America is the number one reason America will never be invaded. Once a foreign power has dealt with our military they still have the whole of our citizenry to deal with, and the fact that we are armed to the teeth does not make that a compelling conflict. The right to bear arms is also in place in order to protect the citizenry from potentially tyrannical government. Do you honestly trust George W. to protect your rights. Because saying that the fact that we have a military is a reason to shit on the second amendment is saying that you trust George W. not to turn America into a police state, which he partly already has.

Secondly, How is disarming law abiding citizens going to do anything to stop gun violence, when gun violence is almost always perpetuated using ILLEGALLY OBTAINED WEAPONS. All gun control does is disempower people who care about the law, and emboldens people who don't because they know that law abiding citizens no longer have the right to defend themselves. In Australia they enacted strict gun control laws, gues what happened. Crime went up immensely, because all the outlaws kept their guns and the rest of the population was at their mercy. If gun laws are the answer, then why is it that DC has such a high murder rate? In Fairfax, right across the water, they have virtually no gun control, over twice the population, and less than half of the gun deaths? Could it be that personal responsiblity is the key?