So your vision is for every man, woman and child to be walking around the mall with a military-spec assault rifle...
The "freaks" are those who look to the constitution and think it is an instrument to force their will and values on others. I said the extremes of either the right and left, not reasonable people. Remember, moderation is the way...not rigid, dogmatic, fundamentalist self righteousness...
Yes of course, just like Switzerland. That wasn't a teddy bear that 5 year old was cuddling in Gstaad, it was an H&K Assault Rifle with teddy bear camo...
Some might take that to mean we don't really have one. Certainly we have to take modern times into account, but one thing has never changed...there are those who wish to control the actions of others (and they tend to gravitate toward positions of power), and without the Constitution such actions might go unchecked. What better way to get around the restraints than to say we don't know what the Constitution means.
Again, this is a clever man who has laid it all out for you in very simple, common sense ways including this statement. I'm proud to say (I believe?) he is a fellow Californian and we could certainly use about 30 million more of him.
When I lawfully purchase and/or carry a gun, how am I "forcing my will and values on others?" Whose rights have I violated?
People take it many different ways. The right way (IMO) is majority rule, without trampling the rights of the minority. The simple fact, is that you don't really know what the Constitution means...you are like many who want to confuse opinion with fact. Yes, the words are right there...but words and not mathematical equations. The Framers knew that, which is why they made it a living framework, subject to interpretation and amendment. Imagine if we had to actually think for ourselves....