USA Today is running a poll on the meaning of the Second Amendment, specifically whether it grants an individual right to keep and bear arms. The Supreme Court has clearly stated in D.C. v Heller that that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms, independent of service in the militia. This ruling was in keeping with the clear intentions of this country’s founders that the pre-existing right to keep and bear arms be protected. This (unscientific) poll reflects this interpretation, showing 96% of those surveyed agree. While unscientific polls such as this have their limitations, news outlets like to reference them, so I would encourage everyone to take the poll.
My thanks to Anders for pointing out this poll.
This USA Today poll appears to be about a year and a half old, from November 2007. Does it REALLY have any relevance today?
Dave,
I noticed the apparent age of the poll too, however when I refreshed the results page it showed about 3 new votes coming in every second, so I decided to post a link to the poll.
Either way, voting takes just a second, and you're free to refrain from voting if you see it as a waste of your time 😉
Oh…I voted alright! I just hope that it is still useful in getting our point across!
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I won’t participate in this USA Today opinion poll. I view it with great suspicion. The reason is because the correct answer is NO. The second amendment and the constitution do not give individuals their rights. God does. The law of our land only recognizes our God given rights and requires the legitimate government of the USA to protect them.
I’m sorry but, I believe that answering yes to this survey is a denial of God’s authority. I hope you will agree.
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Self Defense is a natural right from God. The 2nd amendment affirms God will and that the use of guns is one way to do so.
Taking away the right for citizens to own and use guns is just plain stupid. Anyone with a shred of common sense in their head should realize that the criminals will have them no matter what the law says. The only thing that will be accomplished by altering the 2nd amendment is making our citizens easy targets for the criminal. Work on the courts to hammer the criminals that unlawfully use the guns and there won't be any problems.
I do not think God has his finger on the Second amendment. I think that the writers felt that big governments tend to take peoples freedoms away from them , and by writing the Second the way it reads our Government can not take that freedom away from the people. By interjecting a third person into the arguement will not take my freedom away, anyway God wants man to have his own free will.
Hahahahaha! Let Obama come to Texas with this crap and Obama and his thugs will see a revolt…the largest revolt the world has ever seen. hahahahaha. BRING IT ON Obamanites…. Our guns here are OURS!
i have to wonder about the intelligence of the lawmakers in Washington D.C. they don"t believe the 2nd amendment gives the american people the right to bear arms. they apparently are blind as well as stupid it is right in the wording. But that is the federal government for you. the only rights we have anymore is to elect them. Emancipation Proclamation is out and the federal government now thinks that they own us and can do whatever they want. Taking away the right to bear arms, what will be next, the freedom of speech, religion, press, or public assembly. How can anyone possibly trust these morons with running this country? They failed to ensure that our troops had the proper protection when they went into Irag and Afghanistan. They bailed out corporate America as if they actually buy the goods and services. You know there is a saying: You can put a million chimps into a room give them each a pen and eventually one of them will right Mozart, unfortunately our politicians is Washington D.C. have much lower I.Q. than a chimp. With any job today if you don't perform the tasks that you are assigned you get fired. I think we should to that with them. Simply because our tax dollars pay their salary amongst other things, they work for us. I think we should fire all of them and start anew. The American people are free, and are not required to have any master. And regardless of what they may think it is the American people who will decide the future of this nation. I think we simply need to remind our politicians who is boss.