Apparently I struck a chord with Friday's "Constitutional Amendment of the Day".

Ruston Easton, would very much like to limit your gun rights:

Do we forget so easily that when the constitution was written the "arms" that would have been "beared" were muskets, which took maybe 30 sec. to a minute to load? There were no handguns, which were specially designed to kill, no AK-47s, or any other kind of automatic or semi-automatic weapon. Are you not aware that homes with guns are much more likely to cause an accidental death than they are a purposeful one? I'm not saying there should be no guns, but you are not accurately interpreting the constitution. Militias are specifically given the right, and that is to protect against tyranny of the government, definitely a good thing. But it does not protect an individual's right to carry a handgun or automatic weapon. That is where gun right's activists are misled.

Liberals love to point to the advancement of firearms as an excuse to regulate peoples rights. I guess we should limit freedom of the press because TV and Radio weren't around in the 1700s. There are numerous verifiable quotes from our founding fathers that express their exact intent when drafting the second amendment.

"The great object is, that every man be armed ... Every one who is able may have a gun." -- Patrick Henry
"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

As for self defense, you are not allowed to murder somebody because they break into your home. You are allowed to use reasonable and necessary force to remove yourself from danger. We already have laws on the books that address this very situation.

As for fully-automatic firearms, they are already regulated. Most liberals don't know the difference between fully and semi automatic anyway.

Look at how Ruston, conveys himself: Militia's are "given" the right. The whole point of the bill of rights is that they are not granted or given, they are protected. Your right to life, liberty, and property are granted by God, not the government. Never mind that Militia's are run by the state, and thus would not be an effective deterrent against tyranny.

As for accidental deaths, his statement is just plain wrong. With respect to accidents in the home, toasters are much more likely to cause accidents in the home than firearms. With respect to the kill ratio of 'accidental deaths' vs. 'purposeful ones' this is probably in reference to Kellerman's 1986 paper. I'm not going to get into the flaws of his paper, but you can read about it here.