If It Looks Like BS and Smells Like BS...

I had to laugh when I looked over at the ACLU's web page this morning.

A prominently displayed sign read, "The ACLU is challenging the Bush administration's illegal spying, which violates the Fourth Amendment and other constitutional protections guaranteed to every American."

Fine, I thought. The Fourth Amendment states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

But then, reviewing their Second Amendment position, I had to chuckle. Of course, the 2nd Amendment states," 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."

Now, the ACLU doens't believe in this protection of our individual liberties.

We believe that the constitutional right to bear arms is primarily a collective one, intended mainly to protect the right of the states to maintain militias to assure their own freedom and security against the central government. In today's world, that idea is somewhat anachronistic and in any case would require weapons much more powerful than handguns or hunting rifles. The ACLU therefore believes that the Second Amendment does not confer an unlimited right upon individuals to own guns or other weapons nor does it prohibit reasonable regulation of gun ownership, such as licensing and registration.

So, throughout the Bill of Rights, "the right of the people" indicates an individual right - except for the Second Amendment, where it is a "right of the state"?????

Let's take a brief trip through the Bill of Rights:

1. RIGHT OF AN INDIVIDUAL / THE PEOPLE to worship, enjoy free press, redress grievances, peaceably assemble.
2. RIGHT OF AN INDIVIDUAL / THE PEOPLE to keep AND BEAR arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
3. Military cannot be quartered in private housing during peacetime without the CONSENT OF THE OWNER.
4. RIGHT OF AN INDIVIDUAL / THE PEOPLE to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
5. RIGHT OF THE AN INDIVIDUAL / THE PEOPLE to be free from double jeopardy, testifying against self in a criminal case, and be free from deprivation of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; private property may not be taken for public use without just compensation.
6. RIGHT OF THE AN INDIVIDUAL to a speedy public trial, and ability to face the accusers and witnesses.
7. RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE to a trial by jury.
8. RIGHT OF AN INDIVIDUAL to be free from excessive bail and unusual punishments.
9. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or TO THE PEOPLE.

Where is this "collective right" BS in the Second Amendment?

Why is "protection against the central government" anachronistic? That's just BS. And by the way, in my state of Michigan, we have 1,000,000 firearms-deer season hunters. If those hunters united and made a protest against the state, our hunting rifles would be enough to get us noticed. And by the way, I am not advocating this, I am simply stating a fact. No arrest warrants, please.

Where does "shall not be infringed" allow "reasonable regulation of gun ownership, such as licensing and registration."

You know what they say... if it looks like BS and smells like BS...