• Aganim@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’m not American, so I could be wrong, but wasn’t it something about a well-regulated militia?

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It was, those three words aren’t there by mistake.

      Standing domestic armies were controversial at the time. They needed a way if a state was a facing a crisis it could grab a bunch of armed citizens, declare it a militia, and deal with the issue. Most of the signers were lawyers and they knew that there had to be a legally established procedure for this.

      This is me being nice to them btw the issue was slavery and the fear of slave revolts.

      And a few decades ago it got reimagined as a civil liberty. Which is clear from the text that it is not and is clear from the debates around the amendment at the time.

      • FryHyde@lemmy.zip
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        6 months ago

        I was always under the impression that the militia bit was because they didn’t want the USA to form a government army. The army instead would be all citizens, armed, that would act in case of a national threat, then like… go back to farming or whatever.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Regulation had a different interpretation back then. It had to do with training and equipment. It’s why professional soldiers were called “Regulars.” They wanted civilian militias to be equipped and have the ability to train on their weapons.

      In order for civilian militias to exist, be effective, and be able to respond instantly the citizens need to have weapons.

      Somebody who doesn’t have a gun and has never used one isn’t going to be effective in civil defense.

      • hark@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yet there is little to no training before people are allowed to own guns. Seems to me like it doesn’t follow either the modern definition or the supposed definition of old.

        • john89@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          Why can’t you people just admit you don’t like guns so you’re trying to desperately to pretend the 2nd amendment doesn’t mean what it has literally always meant?

          You’re just like republicans with how disingenuous you are in your rhetoric.

          And you know it.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            That’s a lot of assumptions you’re making. I don’t know who “you people” are in this context, but if you want to know my personal beliefs, I think that gun ownership is fine, it just needs regulation.

          • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            If you end your argument with “and you know it”, you’ve already lost. Which is unfortunate since in this case I happen to agree with you. But you’re not going to convince anyone of anything with the shitty attitude.

            • john89@lemmy.ca
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              6 months ago

              Not really.

              I could say everything right and most of you would just believe whatever you want.

              And you know it.

          • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            EXACTLY! Well Regulated meant TRAINED IN ARMS back in the day which means we should NOT train ANYONE today! And ALSO, ARMS means the EXACT weapons we have today and has NOTHING to do with the Arms they had back in the day!

      • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        WELL REGULATED back in the day meant something DIFFERENT then it does today! But ARMS back in the day refers to the EXACT ARMS we have Today!

    • john89@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      He’s trying to re-write history and every academically and officially accepted interpretation of the constitution because he doesn’t like it.

      You’ll only see ridiculousness like his taken seriously on forums like these.