How to tell if that guy w/ an AR-15 in the grocery store is a gun nut or mass shooter?

[Martin Eden]

12. WELL REGULATED MILITIA ... COULD GO EITHER WAY

SPOT-ON.

I've engaged in some heated debates with "Assault Weapons Rights" advocates who insist the most important intent of the 2nd Amendment was to enable the citizenry to overthrow their own government if it becomes tyrannical.

My response to that is twofold:

1) If having assault weapons would tip the balance in that conflict (as opposed to just having hunting rifles) then it would have been a closely fought protracted bloody war in which life as we know it (food at the supermarket, weekly paychecks) would cease to exist until order could be restored by the leaders of disparate militia forces (strongmen) exerting whatever control they can impose over local populations, many of whom would be a "security risk" because they didn't support the insurrection. The Constiutution (ostensibly being protected by the right to bear assault weapons) would be put on hold indefinitely and very likely permanently.

2) Take a closer look at the people who are actually purchasing assault weapons and screaming about government "tyranny." The leaders who could whip up an insurrection among those folks are the LAST people to whom I would entrust my freedom and liberty.