I's sure that you are familiar with all that I have to say here, but there are many readers of this forum who are not.
I was born in India and completed my schooling there. I certainly lived a privileged life due to my father's station in society. I was taught that I was born in a free country; a Sovereign, Democratic Republic. I agreed with that definition and thought that as a citizen of such a country, I was a free man.
Somewhere along the line the words "Socialist" and "Secular'' were slipped into that description of the country. I didn't really pay much attention to those words at the time. It was a busy period for me as I was preparing to enter life as an adult. Maybe if we had known how badly things ended for the Soviet Union, we wouldn't have added the Socialist part. The next government that took power (for all their posturing and bombast) should have attempted to change the constitution back to its original form but Governments will never give up any of the power that they have assumed. However, that is history and we're stuck with the changes.
Now that I have lived in the US for several years, I find that my definition of what constitutes a free man has changed. While I firmly believe in obeying laws passed by a lawfully elected legislative body I have little time for non elected bureaucrats telling me that I can't do this or that if it is not specified in the law. While I understand that government workers have a job to do, I expect them to do it with professionalism and politeness and to stay within the law. That brings us to the constitution. The Constitution of the USA is the supreme law of the land and no matter what law is passed, it must be in accord with the constitution. The legislative branch of the Government makes laws and the executive branch enforces those laws but it is the job of the judicial branch of Government (the courts) to decide whether a law is constitutional (if or when the law is challenged).
The Second Amendment to the constitution 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.
It doesn't say anything about collecting, it doesn't say anything about hunting or the sporting use of weapons and it doesn't say anything about what type of arms a person can "keep and bear". It just says that that right "shall not be infringed". So while everyone in the media is blabbering about what should be done and which weapons should be banned,etc. they should re-read the second amendment and maybe consider what the framers meant. Regardless of what I think and regardless of what others think, the final arbitrator of whether a law conforms to the constitution is the Supreme Court of the US.
All public officials, including the President of the USA, when they swear their oaths of office swear an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the constitution of the United States.
As you are aware, your friends are wrong. They are not in India anymore and and what goes on in India doesn't apply to the US. The fundamental rights of a person in the US are guaranteed by the Constitution of the US of A. The second Amendment of the constitution is what guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. It also doesn't say that a license or any kind of test should be required before you can bear those arms.One of them was of the opinion that India doesn't permit getting licenses easily and we are better off with that system, so something similar should be done here in the US. The other one believed that our fundamental/human rights are decided by society and whatever society decides are the rights we have.
Going back to the very first post in this thread:
The second amendment doesn't shelter, hide and pervert anything. It is a section in the constitution (that is the highest law of the land) and as such any laws passed must conform to it.Well,,, being a responsible guns owner, i myself fully condemn the shooting of innocent and beutifull children ,, and consider the RKBA as fundamental right and is staunch advocate for it , fully support the OBAMA administration to take what ever neccessary to be done to prevent CT incidents... so that RKBA should not be misled , misused under the shelter of 2nd amendment....
