[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Livia

The Second Amendment, the right to bear arms was added during the time of the Wild West, when it was okay to own slaves... and they're still defending it! Madness...

Hey wannashag, nice to see you!

its not really about that Livia, the second amendment was added because there was no strong government after the british, and we had open borders. so we needed militias to be able to defend themselves against the british in the north, the spanish(mexicans) in the south, and against Indian tribes, there was no way for the US army to be covering all of those bases back then. We needed militias to protect this country because we had ever expanding borders and really, back then it was up to the American people to protect their own towns. there was no way for the US military to get anywhere quickly and protect our borders back then. it would take a month before any kind of federal help could respond if there was any kind of invasion from the british canadians or the spanish mexicans so we needed to rely on the american people themselves to protect our borders and land. It's much like the swiss now, they have guns in every house, because they need ordinary citizens to protect the country incase any one tries to invade.

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by lostalex

its not really about that Livia, the second amendment was added because there was no strong government after the british, and we had open borders. so we needed militias to be able to defend themselves against the british in the north, the spanish(mexicans) in the south, and against Indian tribes, there was no way for the US army to be covering all of those bases back then. We needed militias to protect this country because we had ever expanding borders and really, back then it was up to the American people to protect their own towns. there was no way for the US military to get anywhere quickly and protect our borders back then. it would take a month before any kind of federal help could respond if there was any kind of invasion from the british canadians or the spanish mexicans so we needed to rely on the american people themselves to protect our borders and land. It's much like the swiss now, they have guns in every house, because they need ordinary citizens to protect the country incase any one tries to invade.

I agree with what you have said but the second amendmant was written in 1791 and Thomas Jefferson was very specific with the way it was worded. It went, "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 infringed."

There are still militia's within the USA but the majority of those who no longer carry a musket but a whole arsenal of weapon are not part of a militia and they are certainly not well regulated.

Yes, the Swiss army is a militia in the truest sense of the word. Whilst every Swiss militia man/woman has an army weapon at home he is not allowed ammunition and he has to prove that his weapon is kept safely under lock and key and that only he has access to it. He's is not permitted to carry his weapon unless he's called into military service. What the Swiss militia are permitted to do with their weapon is clean and maintain it - only.