Posted by
Dave in Nevada on Sunday, November 16, 2008 2:06:20 PM
I
recently watched an episode of Lock and Load on the History Channel. The
episode was hosted by retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey.
This show
confirmed a view that I have held for several years now which dispenses with
the argument that the Second Amendment only applies to the type of firearms
that were in existence at the time it was written and that the country’s
founding fathers could not have imagined today’s modern firearms; that modern
firearms are directly descended from the very first firearm.
I grant
you that the founders probably didn’t conceive of the actual design of certain
modern guns but they certainly were able to conceive of the concept. It is my
understanding that the founders were highly educated and intelligent men, men
who read and studied classical writings. Surely, then, these men were aware of
Da Vinci’s multi-barrel cannon design.
However,
to take this argument to the First Amendment, I seriously doubt that the
founders ever conceived of the idea that news could be transmitted by radio,
television or the internet. They probably never even thought of the telegraph.
The science behind all of those things was unheard of at the time.
Further,
consider that this piece was generated with a word processing program and
stored on a computer. If the founders were faced with this document, would they
have considered it to be “papers” which would be protected as a right under the
Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights? The Supreme Court of the United States does. I am quite certain that the
founders would have been amazed at the technology but they would have been able
to see the natural progression of quill & vellum to a WORD file when shown
all of the intermediate advancements.
Most
people today see that connection. Of this I am certain, because no one wants to
ban my computer and printer as a weapon of mass communication that didn’t exist
when the First Amendment was written.
Therefore,
would the founders have been amazed to see a modern, semi-automatic rifle? No
doubt they would but they probably would have seen the direct connection with
the firearms of their day. Upon being handed an M-14 rifle, General George
Washington would have immediately recognized it for what it was. He might even
have been able to figure out what a typewriter was. On the other hand, what
might he have thought of our current form of communication such as radio,
television, the internet, a computer or even a telephone?
Just as
society has advanced our technology from horses & buggies to automobiles,
we have advanced our firearms technology.
However,
the advancement in firearms technology has not been nearly as swift as other
technology. For example, automobiles and airplanes have been in existence
slightly more than one hundred years whereas firearms have been in existence
for more than five hundred years and firearms improvement has been exceedingly
limited.
If firearm
advancement had been in line with other technological advancement, firearms
would have been at the phaser (charged particle beam) stage by now.
As to the
concept of the founders not being able to conceive of fifty caliber firearms,
or even seen the need or value in them, click on the link below:
http://www.davekopel.org/NRO/2001/Guns-and-Character-Assassination.htm
Here,
Dave Kopel has shown that many of the weapons of the founder’s day were fifty
caliber or larger. I would be willing to wager that the founders would have
marveled at our modern firearms design and development but they certainly would
have been able to see the value in them. They would also have been able to see
the natural progression from flintlock to cap lock to full-auto firearms, from
muzzle loader to cartridge rifles, from single shot to semi-auto, just as they
were able to see that same natural progression from fire-stick to matchlock to
wheel lock to flintlock.
If we
were to apply anti-gun group’s premise about firearms to the entire Bill of
Rights we would have to do away with cars, trains and planes. We would be
obliged to eliminate from society all forms of modern communication and
printing methods including ball point pens.