For most of my adult life, I have never given much thought to the Second Amendment. I remember being dramatic opposed to it as a child, but as I grew up I just didn't care. I never owned a gun nor do I ever plan to own one. That is my choice, and I'm sure both pro and anti gun folks understand that. I saw a front page article on kos today that really got me thinking about this again.
The weird thing is that this article presented a decent support of the Second Amendment, but the article also made me very aware of several holes in the pro-gunners arguments that actually help to obliterate our freedoms.
The Militia Argument:
You hear this from liberals a lot. If you want to own a gun, join the National Guard. Of course, this argument is a little silly, as our diarist pointed out:
The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age
I'm going to ignore the gender-bias in these laws for the time being (they bother me immensely), and I will try to examine this a little more.
Funny thing is that I've never heard of a 17 year old owning a gun; I guess they are allowed to--yes, it is absolutely strange that gun ownership can happen a good 4 years before a citizen can own a good bottle of wine. And once you have that right to own a gun, look what happens the next year:
The law requires virtually all male U.S. citizens (regardless of where they live), and male immigrants residing in the U.S. (permanent resident aliens), to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
Because we are all members of this unorganized militia, we can all be drafted. Whether you like it or not, this is part of the responsibility of militias and gun ownership. It is a responsibility that many citizens would gladly opt out of.
Even though we haven't had true need for a draft since the 70s, there is still plenty of ill-will towards it. While the Selective Service has been found to be Constitutional in multiple cases, it doesn't change the feeling of many liberals that it isn't. The draft and selective service do trample on freedoms in many ways, even when not implemented. Aside from the aforementioned gender biased; there are also issues of forced servitude and so on.
Is the right to bear arms worth the restrictions of freedoms created by Selective Service? We are not forced for not voting (not directly anyway), but fines for not registering for the draft or burning a draft card can be quite severe. Gun ownership should be a choice, but it is a choice that comes with responsibility. That responsibility should not fall on the shoulders of those that choose otherwise. Giving up that piece of freedom is simply not acceptable for many.