Reply #27: um, actually . . .

[Cooper]

<<In reality, the Second Amendment does not confer any individual right to bear arms. >>

check this out:

http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndpur.html

<<Also throughout our history, we have been defended by our collective guns, not by individual armed yokels. Thatwas true in 1776, it was true in 1861, it was true in 1918, it was true in 1945, and it was true today. >>

the original revolt was certainly spearhead by what you call "individual armed yokels." i'd say quite a large amount of civilian arms were used in the Civil War as well, on both sides. when you get into foreign wars, you are right, because we have to ship troops to the war. but anytime Americans actually defended themselves from an attack on our soil, civilian guns have played a pretty big role.

if the colonists had not had guns in 1776, we'd all be drinking tea and bitching about Blair. with the current administration pissing off the world and not even looking over its shoulder at terrorists, why should we trust the government to keep us safe?