Billy O, I guess I do get a little long winded. Sometimes I need to so that I may fully explain my position and I am responding to each point from each person. After all, I don't want anyone to feel left out.
I assume you guys have had your share of trouble here from some trolls, that explains the lack of profile info. I don't need to know why, just sorry it happened. I agree with your comment on sociopaths. Loonies with guns bother me as well. The problem is that many people consider medical records, particularly mental health records, private. The information is a doctor/patient privledge. As a result most people object to the federal govt. (FBI) establishing a database of mental health records. Even the ACLU opposes this. Do you think that it is acceptable to limit privacy in some areas that could effect hundreds of thousands of people to help insure the safety of the rest of the population? The law prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms is a federal law and it has been upheld as a reasonable restriction, as the prohibition on felons voting or the restriction on free speech disallowing one to yell 'Fire.' in a theater. I do have a problem with a background check being too intrusive, but believe that they do serve a purpose. The weapons, land mines, are considered Class III weapons, specifically a mine or other exploding ordnance or launcher (anything over .50 caliber) is considered a 'destructive device' (DD) under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA '34) and is restricted in the same way as machine guns. Legal to own according to the federal govt, but about 15 or 20 states do have some state law restricting possession of some items. Generally the people who own the DD weapons are very high end military armament collectors. Remember that few things we buy require us 'need' them. We buy things because we 'want' them. I don't 'need' to drive a BMW, but I 'want' a BMW. You ask about what the militia is. I can only offer you the legal definition contained within U.S. Code and the Supreme Court ruling of U.S. v. Miller (1939):
U.S. Code, Title 10, Section 311:
Sec. 311. Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are -
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard
and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of
the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the
Naval Militia.
This can be found at: <A HREF="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode10&STEMMER=en&WORDS=militia+&COLOU R=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/10/311.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match" TARGET=_blank>http://www4.law.corn ell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode10&STEMMER=en&WORDS=militia+&COLOU R=Red&STYLE=s&
URL=/uscode/10/311.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match</A>
As far as the Supreme Court, here is a portion of their ruling:
The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. 'A body of citizens enrolled for military discipline.' And further, that ordinarily when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.
Found at:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/script...=307&invol=174
You are correct, as I would guess that you are not active duty military, you are a member of the militia. The key thing to remember when people claim the militia mentioned in the Constitution is the National Guard is that the Constitution was ratified in around 1789 and the National Guard did not exist until the early 1900's, over 100 years later.
[This message has been edited by Jeff OTMG (edited April 05, 2001).]