I support the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which reads:
	" A well regulated Militia , being necessary to the security of a free State , the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed".
	Today's Militia is the National Guard, which reports to the Governors of the States. This is a key and fundamental fact. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers held that, "...Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness were ...Certain unalienable Rights..." and, ...that whenever any Form of Government (translate: a Central or Federal Government) becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it".
	It was their vision that, the independent states' Militias would abolish any repressive (Federal) government, should conditions become intolerably oppressive. They did not mean groups of vigilantes, who hardy fit the description of, "... a well regulated Militia".
	So, although I support the right to private ownership of guns. I do not oppose efforts to control ownership of assault weapons, which are prized especially in the (illegal) drug business, by terrorists and by political extremists. These are not who the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the second amendment!
	Copyright © 2006 John R. Austin