Let's be real: there's no reason weapons should be so common place, especially anything more than a handgun.
"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."
The 2nd amendment doesn't specify anything more than the right to "Keep and Bear Arms". This is for the sake of a **well regulated militia**. But the word militia itself means basically "soldiers" from Latin when you go back far enough, but itself means "military".
Militia itself is defined as
"a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency."
Here's the thing: a Militia
has to be raised from the civil population. What counts as a Militia officially? Well, using Wikipedia, sinful scourge as it is, which does provide a source for its choice of wording:
"Today, as defined by the
Militia Act of 1903, the term "militia" is used to describe two classes within the United States:
[8]
Unorganized militia – composing the Reserve Militia: every able-bodied man of at least 17 and under 45 years of age, not a member of the National Guard or Naval Militia.
[10]"
So what does this mean? Well, The only ORGANIZED militias (ergo as, quote unquote: "well regulated") are
State forces, IE: the National Guard. As such the only groups that have a
right to bear arms according to a very strict understanding of the law.
I understand that in the ratified version it lacked the , after "militia" and "arms". HOWEVER, this does nothing as it still clarifies it must be a "well regulated militia". To ignore the first two words I have quoted is to attempt to capitalize on a subsection for personal while ignoring the rest, as it ignores that a Militia IS the "people" upon which have the right to bear arms.
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So now back to the point here. I don't know WHAT weapon this guy used, but the fact it was taken or obtained should be tracked down, the license revoked, and jail time, period.
If he used anything more than a pistol, it goes back to how I started. You do not need more than a handgun for self defense, and it is my personal belief that hunting weapons should be restricted to hunting organizations and carefully watched and managed by the government (seeing as wildlife management IS a national, if not international, issue to prevent overhunting).
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I do honestly feel bad for all the families involved, but I won't deny I am indeed desensitized to the whole issue. It's stupidity. The only reason this keeps happening is greed, and pure stupidity. Stupidity of sellers not doing proper checks. And if they don't do any checks because they aren't mandated by law, they still deserve the flack. If the guy got it from his family, then it begs into question what's the point of a license if you could just hand it over. Etc etc. Ugh.