...but there weren't semi-automatic weapons when the Bill of Rights was written

[Reedman]

I heard and read that "the Founders couldn't have even imagined the horrors of today's guns..." Well, not only were people aware of something faster than single-fire muskets, it turns out that George Washington tried to buy some for the army. The Belton Flintlock.

https://billypenn.com/2018/02/16/a-...nted-one-of-the-first-semi-automatic-weapons/

 

[glassparman]

The Founders also couldn't have imagined the horrors of today's politicians . . . or did they? If I read the Federalist Papers correctly, they DID! That is why we have the second amendment to begin with.

 

[retrieverman]

If the 2nd amendment doesn’t apply to today’s guns, then the first amendment doesn’t apply to TV, radio, or the internet.

 

[OKNewshawk]

The Second Amendment doesn't apply to firearms at all... at least, in the way most anti-gunners think it does. It applies to the government--first Federal and then the states (after the 14th Amendment)--in that it prohibits them from infringing on the rights of the people to keep and bear arms--any arms.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

It's why the Second Amendment has the all encompassing term "arms"and doesn't list things like flintlocks, knives, swords, arrows, rocks, and/or spitballs. It says nothing about arms limited to any specific date of manufacture, caliber, range, mode of deployment, etc.

Woody

 

[gerhard1]

If the 2nd amendment doesn’t apply to today’s guns, then the first amendment doesn’t apply to TV, radio, or the internet.

I've made this argument as well.

 

[Buck98]

And the fourth amendment covering electronics,wiretapping and video surveillance.