The Framers vs. todays frightened pols

[minerbill]

I don't see this mentioned much, but remember when the 2nd Amendment was written, the Militias took home with them the most modern weapons of the age. In many cases they stacked the awful muskets in the armories and went home to their more accurate rifles!
Could you imagine the howls from todays brave lawmakers if that were to happen today.
I am consantly amazed by the courage and wisdom of the men who gave life to this great nation.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Dakotaranger]

Welcome to the site. While we don't talk about it alot it is rarely from everyone on this site's thoughts. I agree the Founders were just mindblowing intellegent compared with the populace today.

[Miggy]

If the Founders were alive today there would be non-stop use of gallows in Washington.

[goawayfarm]

I too am a big fan of our Founders.........

as related to 2A, here are a few of my favorites:

Noah Webster, in a pamphlet urging ratification of the Constitution: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe."

George Mason: ". . . to disarm the people; that . . . was the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

Richard Henry Lee: ". . . to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."

James Madison, drafter of the Bill of Rights, in Federalist No. 46 scorned European despotisms as "afraid to trust the people with arms," and assured his countrymen that they need not fear their government because of "the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation."

Samuel Adams asserted in the Massachusetts convention that "the said Constitution be never construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms."

James Monroe included "the right to keep and bear arms" in his list of basic human rights.

Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people. — Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.” - Patrick Henry

these are but a few, there are lot more...........

IF ANY ANTI-GUNNER WOULD READ THESE.......HOW CAN THEY STILL SAY THE SECOND AMENDMENT ISN'T AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT? It is clear that they don't care what the Founder's wishes were, they have their own agenda.........& it doesn't include the 'common folk' having arms..........


I too am John Doe.....

[Bryan]

Its not that our population today is just stupid. Its that they are pretty much insulated from reality, most actions that would have got you killed a hundred years ago are easily fixed today. This make people think that nothing bad can ever happen to them.

[goawayfarm]

Its not that our population today is just stupid. Its that they are pretty much insulated from reality, most actions that would have got you killed a hundred years ago are easily fixed today. This make people think that nothing bad can ever happen to them.

I don't know. I think the majority is ignorant & some really are stupid. Ignorance can be fixed with education, stupid is forever. Those on the anti-gun side are using the public's lack of knowledge, either ignorance or stupidity, to further their agenda.

from some of the anti's:

"[The United States] can't be so fixed on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..." - President Bill Clinton March 1, 1993 during a press conference in Piscataway, NJ.

"Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution." - H.J. Res. 81, Jan.27, 1993.

"It is our aim to ban the manufacture and sale of handguns to private individuals... the coalition's emphasis is to keep handguns out of private possession — where they do the most harm." - Recruiting flyer currently distributed by The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, formerly called The National Coalition to Ban Handguns.

"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society." -Hillary Clinton, 1993

"....We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest. Of course, it's true that politicians will then go home and say, 'This is a great law. The problem is solved.' And it's also true that such statements will tend to defuse the gun-control issue for a time. So then we'll have to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen that law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we'd be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. My estimate is from seven to ten years. The problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns sold in this country. The second problem is to get them all registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition — except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors — totally illegal." -Pete Shields, Chairman and founder, Handgun Control Inc.

"I honestly think — and I am not an expert on the amendments — I think the only people in this nation who should be allowed to own guns are police officers. I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say, 'Sorry. It is 1999, we have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun and if you do own a gun, I think you should go to prison.'" -Rosie O'Donnell,

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them... "Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in," I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here." -U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of Americans to feel safe." -U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

"Assault weapons... are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully-automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons." -Josh Sugarmann

[ibex]

If the Founders were alive today there would be non-stop use of gallows in Washington.

I completely agree with that!