Chief Justice Warren Berger on the Second Amendment:

[RSherman]

"The Second Amendment has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud--I repeat the word 'fraud'--on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

[elleng]

1. Did Justice Burger Call Gun Lobby's Take on 2nd Amendment a Fraud on the American Public?

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger once said, "The gun lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

The first part of this meme — "The gun lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have seen in my lifetime" — comes from an interview Burger gave to PBS News in 1991.

The second part of this meme — "the real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies, the militia, would be maintained for the defense of the state" — and the third part — "The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires" — comes from an articles Burger wrote for The Associated Press about the Bill of Rights in 1991.'

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/justice-burger-2nd-amendment-meme/

[RSherman]

7. "American Crusade"

I'm reading "American Crusade" by Andrew L. Seidel. He recounts the Berger quote. In his notes at the end of the book, he cites his source as:

Warren Burger, The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, Dec. 16, 1991

[GiqueCee]

2. I've been a gun owner for my entire adult life...

... and I was even an NRA member when it was an HONORABLE sportsman's organization, which is to say, before Wayne LaPierre polluted it.

In my humble opinion, lobbyists shouldn't even exist. I don't have one, do you? Corporatism will be the death of this nation. Corporatists want a new feudalism. The Santa Clara Decision of 1886 was the camel's nose under the tent, and the progenitor of "Corporations are people, my friend". No, Mittens, they. Are. NOT. People. They are legal entities on paper. Nothing more,

Now, if ALL corporations were required by law to be B-Corps (Beneficial corporations) we might be able to correct our course and make America what we all hoped it would be before the oligarchs poisoned it for their own benefit.

Yes, there will almost certainly be blood; psychopaths never relent until they're in their graves. I am old, but I am still a deadly marksman.

The seven pillars of Bushido are: Righteousness, Loyalty, Honor, Respect, Honesty, Courage and Consistency. Or, everything Republicans aren't.

If such a code of honor were something all people aspired to, saving the planet, and thus, the continued existence of humanity, might be achieved. But as long as corporatists are pulling the strings, no. The simple-minded will screech, but, but, but that's SOCIALISM! Right. And honestly defined, socialism is putting the best interests of people ahead of the malign interests of corporations.

Society, which is to say, government, should conduct itself with the best interests of the individual in mind, and individuals should conduct themselves with the best interests of society in mind. Balance. Harmony. Survival.

[peppertree]

3. Absolutely - but when you talk to Repugs, the same pretext keeps coming up for their "need" for assault weapons

They've been gaslit and brainwashed into believing that, in the near future, "the Federal Gummint (under a Democrat, of course) will declare Marshall Law."

And they'll always spit out the same phrase: "Second Amendment - just in case" (for the very thing).

The sheer seditiousness behind the assault weapon obsession, is almost as problematic as the weapons themselves.

[GiqueCee]

4. Amen.

[33taw]

5. The duck dynasty crew on theSCOUS doesn't care.

[AnrothElf]

6. Fuck yeah. It's been so degraded...

That it may need to be abandoned (by some future admin, obvi).

[Warpy]

8. He was right, that piece of shit should have been scrapped when the concept

of state militias was. It soon became apparent that the militia system wasn't going to work, it was mostly an excuse for men to go into town every couple of weeks and hang out in the saloons. It was obvious that a professional military was necessary, although keeping it as small as possible was still a more popular idea than the bloated Pentagon we have now.

White southerners fought to keep it since they were outnumbered by a large population of formerly enslaved and abused people with ample reason to hate the owners.