Ways in which Republicans love freedom...

[MMMMMM]

I don't know for sure, ptmusic; I don't see any really good reason a citizen shouldn't be able to own 200 deer rifles if, for instance, that's what they care to collect.

I think anything that qualifies as a "personal firearm" should be OK for a citizen to own. That would exclude things like artillery, etc, I suppose. I guess that might be because the 2nd Amendment speaks of the right to "keep and bear arms" and I don't really see how you would "bear" a piece of artillery;-)

I feel a bit ambiguous about things like M-16s. I don't see any reason a citizen would "need" them, but still, if the government ever were to become truly tyrannical somehow (hypothetically speaking, let's say there were to be a military coup 30 years from now) you would want as many citizens owning good fighting firearms as possible. While the military could soundly defeat any pocket of resistance, they couldn't very well control the entire country if most of the populace had good firearms. So although I can't foreseee such a thing happening, I think the deterrent factor to would-be tyrants would be greatest in countries where there is a highly armed populace. And tyranny is the worst of all human conditions.

I don't think incidents of people going on rampages with such weapons are frequent enough, statistically speaking, to come anywhere near a level that might justify banning such weapons.

Also a note: some of the weapons the media characterizes as if on a par with M-16s, catch-phrase-speakwise, really aren't. Semi-automatic is very different than fully automatic. They call things "assault rifles" but you have to squeeze the trigger each time you want to shoot. Not even close to an M-16.

I think our founding fathers feared the government more than they feared criminals or psycho killers. A look at the history of the world will easily show that they were justified in these fears, and in limiting the powers of government, and protecting the rights of the individual.

I'd rather take my chances against the random rare psycho or criminal than against a tyrannical government. So I guess that means I think citizens should be able to own M-16s too.