imported post
RJT (the author) says that if you do not allow any discussion about The Militia, or hunting, or what the founding Fathers could or could not forsee, then you get down to the essence of the issue, which he states as "Jeffersonians feared a strong centralized government would become a despotic system if there were nothing to make them think they could not get away with it, while Hameltonians though the rabble needed the wise and guiding hands of the educated and sophisticated to keep them from destroying themselves, and thus it was better if they were not to be allowed to play with dangerous objects (pointy sticks, firearms, voting and the like).
Again, we are left with the same two sides of the same coin, with no real solution being sugested.
It's like the 2008 presidential election - neither candidate (IMHO) is a good candidate, but one is less worse than the other. Jeffersonian/almost libertarian on some issues or Hameltonian/not as badly liberal as to maybe not be outright socialist is samey-same as It's not the gun that is bad but the behavior of the person using it vs. Guns = Eeek! Bad!!
I'd rather we all agreed on something like "If you do not like guns do not have or use them, and do not attempt in any way to benefit from the fact that someone else may have and/or use guns." The hoplophobes get to become true martyrs and the folks who like guns for whatever reason do not have to listen to the diatribes against them and their guns. I know it is a pipe dream, but I have hope that we can achieve meaningful change in our lifetime, for there is nothing to fear but the fear of fearing.
[Bonus points if you list all the sources for that stream of consciousness.]
stay safe.
skidmark