THE Gun Thread

[Rev. Rye]

But you are absolutely correct GN, that there is a gross distortion by the right as to what the founders said and meant, and the right wants to paint them as magic super heros whose shit never stank. If Jefferson and Paine were to run for President today, there is absolutely no way they could run on the Republican ticket and get passed the primaries with the way they railed against superstition and pulpit politics. 

The same people who blindly worship the founders would have to define Washington as evil because he once threatened to go after whiskey maker tax dodgers and he would have used the Militia to enforce them to pay taxes. And yes, back then the "well regulated" militia was used by slave owners to capture and return escaped slaves. But, what they call "militia" we now call the national guard. And they can be used for lots of good reasons, like dispersing life saving necessities during  natural disaster, or even distributing vaccines during a pandemic.

It's also worth noting that the militia was so important at the time because as of 1787, people weren't convinced that a full-on federal army would even be practical, let alone desirable. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Paper 29, said "The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious, if it were capable of being carried into execution."

The Second Amendment was written for a time when those well-regulated militias were the biggest line of defense against invaders, and the US Army, as we know it, didn't even really exist.