On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 07:22:42 -0500, J. Clarke wrote:

In the US the right to bear arms is not about defense. It's about
resisting an oppressive government. The Founders had just
participated in such successfully and had a high opinion of it as a
result, so they put in a provision that protected the means of its
accomplishment.

Amazing! I'd been ignoring this thread, wondering when, if ever, it was
going to end. I took a quick peek to see what it had degenerated to by
now and clicked on the above quoted post which actually made sense!

What are the odds? :-)