Just read a thread in the garden that got me thinking on this issue.  What do you all think of the constitutional right to bear arms?  There are a lot of crazies walking around out there who feel the need to pop people off whenever they feel like it.  Every so often you hear of a sniper or someone walking into a crowded public place and just popping people off.  Around here, guns are usually just used for hunting (I'm from a small rural area, I know).  But it's very rare for someone with a firearm to just walk in somewhere and shoot the place up.  I think part of it has to do with the perception of spotting an individual holding a gun.  Just this past week, a guy on our campus brought a pellet gun to school for a presentation where he reenacted a Monty Python skit.  Anyway, the guy had permission to bring it and everything, but as soon as he was spotted, he was reported to the police and arrested.  Just because he brought it into a public location.  Do you guys down south react the same way, or when you see someone with a gun in public do you just turn the other way as it's a constitutional right for the person to have one?  I know the right comes with limitations, but I'm unsure of the boundaries. 

People argue that they need guns for protection.  From who?  Other people with guns?  Newsflash: if guns weren't as easily accessible, these crazies with guns wouldn't have them to begin with.  Then what do you need the gun for?  Of course, society has been conditioned that guns are necessary for protection and nowadays it holds true; guns are pretty much necessary in a society that harbours guns.  If not, you're left defenseless against those who do.  But what if guns weren't around in the first place?  The old adage goes "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."  This is true.  But don't you think a gun makes killing a lot easier?  A gun allows a person to end another's life without physical contact.  Hell, you don't even have to look at the person.  Moreover, it's a lot more difficult for someone to go on a murderous rampage using a knife or anything else instead of a gun.  Using a gun, one shot, that's it.  You don't even have to see blood.

I think that people are interpreting the constitution way too literally and that they feel an obligation to carry a gun.  What more, guns have been made pretty much a necessity as they are easily accessible to the wrong people.  Is there any way to change that now?  Maybe not.  But I'm all up for suggestions if it means saving lives of innocent random people.

Any thoughts?