If Guns are Such a Gawd-Given Right,

[Night Watchman]

then why do we have to pay money to acquire them?

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Good question n/t

[NutmegYankee]

2. Like property, it's a right to own.

Whether someone has the means to buy property is another matter. And has been an issue since day one.

[Night Watchman]

5. "Own"?

That word is not in the Second Amendment: "Keep" and "Bear" are. That could easily be viewed as a way for Revolutionary War veterans to hang on to the weapons they used.

[NutmegYankee]

8. It falls under keep, which means own and possess.

It's the primary definition of the word: have or retain possession of.

If you keep chickens, you own them as property for instance.


As an interesting note, the right to own property also isn't in the Constitution, though it is protected by the 9th Amendment. The only stuff about property are limitations on the Government taking it (like 5th, 14th).

[anoNY42]

9. There is no mention of owning printing presses either...

[DetlefK]

3. Your premise is wrong. Otherwise many other things would have to be free as well.

Food, housing/clothing, medical care... And this would reduce the number of acceptable societies to socialist ones.

Self-defense is an inherent right. The 2nd Amendment is a cruel fuck-up by the Founding Fathers by tying self-defense to the ownership of a particular object AND by tying that private ownership to public interest.

[Night Watchman]

4. And Socialist Societies are Bad Because.....

[DetlefK]

7. Because they give too much preference to the public over the individual.

Take a look at actual socialist societies:
Communist countries? They turned into oligarchies and created economic havoc by putting the production of the public over the needs of the individuals.
How about Libya? At face-value it was a just regime, but in practice the will of political minorities was rendered meaningless and Gaddafi was able to rule by demagoguery.

A little bit of socialism is good, but full socialism is a horrible, horrible idea.

[Lee-Lee]

6. For the same reason you can publish a newspaper, but they don't buy you a printing press

Or you can have a religion, but they don't buy you a bible and church.

[ileus]

10. Maybe you're right, maybe uncle sam should provide each of us a M4 for civil defense.

My EDCs on the other hand don't have anything to do with the 2A, but instead help assure me ability to defend myself. After all you have to be alive before anything else matters.