matthewg, welcome to the discussion. To respond to you I can only reassert a couple of quotes from the founding fathers:
"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"On every question of construction (of the constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823,
What you suggest is so that others would 'feel' safer. Remember that we live in a republic, not a democracy. A democracy is where 2 wolves and sheep are going to vote on what to have for dinner, a republic is the same thing only the sheep has a gun. In other words a democracy works for the majority so that the most people can get what they want, but only until it begins to infringe on the rights of the minority.
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