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You're right, Ted, it's hard to do this issue justice on twitter, but I commend you for trying. Here's my side of the argument, on why the 2nd Amendment is about collective, not personal defense, and allows the government to reasonably condition firearms ownership. 1/x
2/x First, you selectively quoted the Amendment. It actually 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." It references militias - not personal defense - for a reason.
3/x The founders were strongly opposed to America having a standing army. Madison called it an "instrument of tyranny". But a young America needed to defend itself. This is where militias come in, and the need to make sure citizens were armed in order to serve.
4/x Nowhere in Madison's copious notes from the Constitutional Convention does he mention the 2nd Amendment being about the private right of gun ownership. And the term "bear arms", which today is connected with private gun ownership, back then was connected to militias.
5/x So I don't think the 2nd Amendment is about protecting the right to defend your personal rights with a gun, but I DO believe that the founders did likely believe in a sort of common law right of gun ownership. That's also pretty clear from the history of the time.
6/x But they also believed that government should be able to regulate that right. And it wasn't just about denying African-Americans the right to own guns. There were revolutionary era laws to register guns, control gun powder storage, prohibit concealed weapons, etc.
7/x The founding fathers probably believed in a right for citizens to own guns (though not necessarily for the reasons you articulate). But they also definitely believed in the right of government to restrict the ability to own and operate weapons.
8/x And that's where we are today. No Democrat is arguing to outlaw private gun ownership. But we do believe, as the founders did, that there should be reasonable limits on gun ownership. Like, some people are too dangerous to own guns, and a few guns are to dangerous to own.
