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Old 05-01-2007, 02:49 AM   #273
Kingswood
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Melbourne, Vic
Posts: 316
The second amendment does not confer an unconditional right to keep and bear arms:
Quote:
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.
How many Americans who choose to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms also choose to exercise their constitutional obligation to join a well regulated militia? Not everybody, I'm guessing.

When the 2nd amendment was drafted, there was no such thing as a modern police force in the United States, so such a provision makes sense given that the citizens had the responsibility of enforcing the law. This explains the first part: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State". Had the concept of a modern police force been invented some 20 to 40 years earlier, the 2nd amendment as we know it would probably not exist.
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