I believe the purpose of the 2nd Amendment is two-fold: (1) to facilitate (and protect) the capacity of the citizenry to revolt against tyrannical government and (2) to facilitate the right of self-defense. I think there is also a right to own and possess firearms if for no other reason than the enjoyment of it. That said, this is my short list of reasonable and unreasonable regs:
Reasonable:
Second 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
unreasonably infringed.
Right?
-Prohibit seriously mentally ill and insane from owning/possessing guns.
The mentally ill have just as much a right to self-defense as you do. Especially since it's nearly a certainty that the government could find a reason to classify you as mentally ill if it took a mind to.
-Prohibit violent felons or persons with a known lack of self-control and propensity for violence.
Wow--talk about vague!
-Prohibit illegal aliens from owning or possessing (they're not citizens).
Wups, I guess I misquoted up there. Let me correct it: "...the right of the
citizens to keep and bear arms shall not be unreasonably infringed."
-Prohibit persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders only if there is clear and convincing evidence by specific and articulable facts, of a risk of firearms violence toward the protected party.
You're going to send the
government to get in the middle of a domestic dispute and decide which side needs a gun for defense and which side doesn't? My guess is that you have little or no experience with real-world domestic violence. Even people who know and love the parties to a chronic domestic violence have a hard time predicting what's going to happen next; an entity as ignorant and incompetent as the government will have
no chance.
