Quote:
Originally Posted by Tribesman
So you cannot have any restrictions on owning firearms.
That obviously includes for convicted felons too.
So to elaborate on your next point, a convicted terrorist has the undeniable right to own a nuclear armed submarine.
Its just so easy to show how that "not be infringed" line of arguement is absolute nonsense isn't it.  |
That's what it says, and there were no such restrictions on felons at the time. I'm fine with that. I'd rather have no restrictions (which was the intent) than unconstitutional ones. Disallowing some felons was part of the Federal Firearms Act of 1938, before that there were no restrictions at all on weapon sales or ownership in the US (except the other FDR crap in 1934 that taxed some guns rather a lot to avoid the 2d).
Of course they were rather more lose about capital punishment back then, and "terrorists" of the exact same persuasion were actually a problem in even the first US administration (the so-called "barbary pirates" were in fact operating under the rules of jihad such as they are out here in dar al harb (slaves may be taken, etc)). Such terrorists would face summary execution for their crimes (like any other pirates), so they'd not likely have a chance at firearms possession in the US. If they managed to get here, then you are right, they'd be no different than anyone else purchasing arms.
The argument is not "nonsense," the language of the 2d is clear, as is the meaning from contemporary writings by its authors.
There is a mechanism to change this for changing times, it's called amending the Constitution. I'm happy to try and come up with a redone 2d that will satisfy 2/3 of both houses, and 3/4 of the State legislatures. You could insert "small" before "arms," for example. They could append "Area-effect weapons, being of indiscriminate effect, may be controlled as deemed necessary by Congress." This would open the door to entirely arbitrary legislation regarding HE, WMD, and even machine guns (which were designed to lay down a "beaten area" not aimed fire for each round).