Quote:
Originally Posted by tony286
If you read it, its one sentence. If they just wanted everyone to own a gun. They wont of put in the first part. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, "
And militia didnt mean the people, it meant militia. To protect the country and the government, not to rise up against the government. "being necessary to the security of a free state"
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no, you're as bad as the extremists on the other side of the issue - it's one sentence true, but the first part regarding 'the militia' is separate from 'the right of the people' part - the first part refers to the right of the states to have well regulated militias, no such thing as an unarmed militia, and then adds that individual citizens have the right to bear arms as well.
your interpretation is wrong. if they only intended that members of militias could have arms the second part wouldn't have been necessary to include. and if your interpretation was right, which it isn't, by exclusion in the Bill of Rights it would be assumed that the founding fathers intended citizens not to have guns. which is ridiculous in the 18th century, EVERYBODY had guns, including every one of the founding fathers.