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Originally Posted by Harvs
Do you have the right to bear arms because its in your constitution ?
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No. We consider it to be an inherent right. The Constitution proper is the guidebook for running the government. The Bill Of Rights is there to guarantee things the government is not allowed to touch.
Not that it always works that way.
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Originally Posted by Harvs
There lies the problem, everyone has to have a gun to protect yourself from people with guns...
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Not really. That's not what that Bill of Rights was about.
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...your constitution was written in 1787 when there were no automatic or semiautomatic weapons, pretty hard to have a mass shooting with a flintlock dont you think?
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But the Second Amendment isn't about protecting individuals from mass shootings. It's about protecting ourselves from the government. I know it doesn't seem likely these days, but did you know that our Revolution actually started when the Colonial Governor sent troops to confiscate an armory full of privately owned cannons?
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There is no reason on earth to justify civilians owning military type weapons...
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Actually that's exactly what the Second Amendment is about. Did you know that during the Revolution and the War of 1812 the government gave Letters of Marque, and thus official military status, to privately owned ships armed with those same cannons? The government at that time relied on private citizens armed with the best modern weapons money could buy.
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...and handguns should only be issued for sporting purposes...
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Actually neither of those was considered a factor in 1791 (the year the Bill of Rights was introduced). The sole purpose for owning a gun was considered to be national defense. We can have that argument if you like, but your points so far have little to do with our reasons for things being the way we are.
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...its a sad reality that you will have plenty more mass shootings until the law changes.
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You're probably right. In fact despite what some here claim, it's true that Australia hasn't had a mass shooting since 1996, an in your case changing the law really did make a difference.
A part of the problem here is that it looks to us like for the sake of safety you're willing to go along with whatever the government says, while many of us consider the government to be the problem, not the solution. If a law like that were passed here, a large majority would just say "No" and become criminals themselves. Win or lose, it could lead to another Revolution. A lot of elected official know this, which is why getting such a law passed here would be a lot more difficult.
The more likely situation would be that many congressmen would try to get such a law passed, fail, and find themselves out of a job come the next election.
No, I don't pretend to have an answer. I'm just making observations.