[hillbilly68]

Damn, it is beyond my comprehension.
I just saw CNN Hardball with Chris Matthews (OK, it was on in the background on the multi service news channel, I have no choice in news where I am so don't think ill of me). Anyway, he was speaking about Huckabee and how he was pro gun. Matthews stated Huckabee (not an exact quote) was "not like the others who believe that there are guns for sporting, self defense, and the like, but that he (Huckabee) said he believed in the ownership of guns to prevent the government from having too much power over the people". Matthews went on and said that this was a scary thought, and was in disbelief that Huckabee would say such a thing.
Well there it is gents. A man states that he believes in the Second because of its original intent. There is no more pure definition or explanation of why it was written down by our Founding Fathers than what Huckabee stated. And it was met with shock and what I believe had undertones of "man, we should watch this guy, he is dangerous because he doesn't want the government to have too much (e.g. all) the power".
I read a quote from someone (apologize that I cannot remember where) that "the Second Amendment is no more about hunting than the First Amendment is about the right to play scrabble". Not a great quote, but it gets at the heart of it. Big things at stake here gents, make no mistake about it.

[bkt]

Ask the average guy/girl/metrosexual on a New York street what 2A is for and I bet none of them will tell you it's about violently defending our liberty against an oppressive government.

For a lot of people, the problem is ignorance. Fortunately, ignorance can be cured. (But stupid is forever.)

[matt g]

"1935 will go down in History! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!" Adolf Hitler

"Our task of creating a so******t America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed." Sarah Brady

"The most effective means of fighting crime in the United States is to outlaw the possession of any type of firearm by the civilian populace." Janet Reno

[bkt]

Those sound like great quotes, Matt, but they may be untrue. Please see this site for details.

While the Nazis favored firearm confiscation, the Weimar had already imposed strict gun control legislation. Nazis took it up a notch and passed their law in 1938 that banned all "militarily useful" weapons. Obviously, Hitler approved of this legislation, so the sentiment is valid. But he is not actually on record of having said anything about gun control in a speech.

Obviously, Sarah Brady wants to confiscate all firearms to reduce crime. But there is no indication she is a socia1ist or communist.

The Reno quote looks to be a total fabrication. Reno was a disaster in many ways, of course, but this specific quote looks to be bogus.

We do ourselves no favors by perpetuating falsehoods, deliberately or by accident. There are clear, concrete, corroborated examples of elected officials dumping on the constitution. Let's run with those instead.

[opaww]

If anyone is interested in reading what I got to say about this subject. It is a little to long to post here but I will post a link to it.

http://freespaces.com/opaww4/Doc25.htm

[BlueXJ]

So many Americans don't know what the second ammendment states and/or the purpose behind it. The NRA has tried to impart that knowledge but they are so hard line that many are turned off when they hear NRA. What are we as American citizens to do to educate the masses?

[pioneer461]

Read the Federalist Papers. The founders made it perfectly clear why they wanted ordinary folks keeping and bearing arms.

http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcInfoBase.asp?CatID=39

[bkt]

Originally Posted by BlueXJ

So many Americans don't know what the second ammendment states and/or the purpose behind it. The NRA has tried to impart that knowledge but they are so hard line that many are turned off when they hear NRA. What are we as American citizens to do to educate the masses?

It's happening. On this board and countless others like it, people are saying what 2A means. Talk show hosts -- the top three as well as others -- have said what 2A means in relation to the people being able to overthrow a tyrannical government. It's been seen in online newspaper articles (which presumably were also in print) and many other online resources.

So, the word is getting out and some people are waking up.

[WILDCATT]

my cousin a woman teacher retired has no idea what the const. says.her answere is it was not her function [she never had occasion to teach it].so what does that say about our schools.they dont teach civics and geography
and history.so what the h** do they teach.thats Mass the center of education??so how does any one expect the youth to understand what this country stands for.

[billdeserthills]

Originally Posted by WILDCATT

my cousin a woman teacher retired has no idea what the const. says.her answere is it was not her function [she never had occasion to teach it].so what does that say about our schools.they dont teach civics and geography
and history.so what the h** do they teach.thats Mass the center of education??so how does any one expect the youth to understand what this country stands for.

I'm sure they'll learn exactly what this country stands for when they grow up & get drafted to fight in a different country's war!!