GUN DEBATE

Don't mess with Paine.

Since the Constitution is mostly a agreement between the States and the Federal Government. (To form a more perfect Union) The Bill of Rights does not give legal rights to the People. Nor is it suppose to. Rather it's meant to recognize the natural rights of the People. Which is why the US Constitution is considered a social contract. Gun ownership being one of those natural rights.

Tom Paine on why the Bill of Rights doesn't give you any legal rights.

Originally Posted by Rights of Man

It is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. It operates by a contrary effect — that of taking rights away. Rights are inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by annulling those rights, in the majority, leave the right, by exclusion, in the hands of a few. ... They...consequently are instruments of injustice.

In other words, if you interpret that the bill of rights is giving us constitutional rights, a privilege is being created. Which can always be negotiated. Natural rights are non-negotiable. They do not fade in the face of oppression or disappear in the midst of tyranny. To make this issue about personal security is laughable or downright pathetic. Though I suppose the Supreme Court was just trying to dodge some legal bullets.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shin

Tom Paine lived in Lewes, where I live, for many years. He owned a bookshop and by all accounts got drunk a lot. Hardly the sort of person you want to pay any attention to...

So? Freud was a crackhead. Just because people abuse drugs doesn't mean they are not capable of contributing something to their field of expertise or interest.*

*This does not apply to teenagers, frat rats, or Watts.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Freud was also a quack. You could've chosen a much better example.

Maybe, but I don't really think any Brit is going to look kindly on a person who helped perpetrate the "events of 1776".

Plus, I'm a big fan of Xenogears. Freud rocked his shit off in that game. Uhh spoiler alert?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.