Effectively, yes. They were fighting the idea of monarchism, where one power rules, in the name of democracy, where individual citizens make their own choices.
It was a really radical idea at the time; not just booting out a crazy monarch and the most powerful army in the world, but also the idea of giving power to the people. That power still allows the public to crown themselves a king, high priest, dictator, politburo or other governmental authority in trade for a blanket of security. To an extent, this makes sense, but as JPP proves, the extremists on both ends seek to empower the Federal government to remove or restrict more rights be it gay marriage, abortion, guns, drugs, whatever.
IMO, the only rule should be consenting adults....federally. Locally, they can give up their rights within Constitutional limits.
Like the Founders, I support the idea that our governments should be improving and expanding freedoms, not restricting them. It's easy to take away rights, but harder to preserve rights and still protect the public.
As the man said, we should pick goals "not because they are easy, but because they are hard". We, the People should be doing the harder thing.
I've said it for years, we should be handling our guns in the same manner at which we handles our automobiles.
Can you only imagine how safe the public would be, if we didn't have a licensing system in place to protect the public?
Or, if we didn't have a FINE system in place to punish the violators who abused the system, and a way to take those licenses away, depending on the severity of the violation?
I'll tell you what I see that we would be facing! Every Street and Highway would be like the Autobahn, and let the Road Games begin. Drunks would be cruising up and down the highway, 12 year olds would be out drag racing their Mommy and Daddies corvettes through our neighborhoods, and we would be squashing school children in the crossroads like rabbits, crossing the road on a Kansas highway after dark. Stop signs, and red lights, and speed limits would be like, WHAT'S THE USE? I can tell you right now, the chances of even getting back home alive after a drive just up to the store, would be like one in a thousand. No one would be safe anymore. It would be total anarchy. Automobiles would be used as a weapon, and let the road rage begin!
And can you even imagine what it would be like if we didn't have to register our automobiles with no title or no license plate available, or have them regularly inspected?
First of all, you would never even know if your car was stolen, or even safe to drive. Auto theft would mushroom into a total Black Market, and the resale of your car would be worth only as much as it is going for on the Black Market, and let the Carjackings begin!
Automobiles and guns have two things in common, in that they are both a PUBLIC SAFETY concern, and their must be controls in place to keep us all as safe as possible.
The Good News is, we have a system in place, in every state to handle the licensing of drivers, and a license plate unique to every automobile on the road for identification purposes, that comes with a penalty system for violators and abusers, with a well laid out code of rules to follow laid out in every states drivers handbook that explains the laws, and a written test as well as a driver's test to insure that they are known and understood, before anyone gets behind the wheel. This is handled through the DOT and regulated by every state's Department of Public Safety.
So all that would have to be done, is duplicate this exact system for GUNS that we have for automobiles.
I believe that this would prevent guns getting into the wrong hands just like we do not want automobiles in the wrong hands either.
I believe that owning a gun or a car is a privilege, that requires responsibility, and when one is irresponsible with either, owning, buying, or selling, or using automobiles or guns, that the privilege can be removed from abusers and violators of the system.
I only own 3 guns and 2 automobiles, but I am willing to acquire a license that says I have the proper training to drive my cars, or own or sell my guns, and willing to register my guns just like my automobiles, to insure my automobiles and guns are not stolen or have been used in crimes, BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE AND I WANT THE WORLD TO BE A SAFER PLACE FOR US ALL.
And anyone who does not have something to hide or fear, should feel the very same way about this.
So FUCK the FOREFATHERS, as they had no way to know about automobiles, or even know about how dangerous a gun could be, as all we had then were cap and ball guns, that takes a whole minute to reload each and every round.
Sorry, but I don't live in 1776, I live in today's dangerous world, and things change, and new rules must apply!
