Why the 2nd Amendment may no longer be revelent to the Federal Government

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Semi-auto versions of the M4 are available to most private citizens. Indeed, that is what the current controversy over school shootings is centered on.
"Semi-Auto" versions aren't actually M4s. The NFA is unconstitutional, and you have just as much right to an M4 in your abode as Pvt. Jones does on post.

Clearly, many people view such restrictions as reasonable, not despotic.
Their "view" is irrelavent. Unless they repeal the 2nd Amendment, our rights are our RIGHTS.

Yeah, they could...but they won't.Agreed. They couldn't stand the thought of a free and vibrant people.

Trouble is, the 2A does not distinguish between individual and crew served weapons, or conventional and nuclear arms.
Hence the importance of original intent. A nuclear weapon is pretty obviously not a militia weapon. An HK MP7, FN P90, or a "real" M4 clearly would be.

I disagree. That would not solve the problem of mass shootings, which have been increasing in frequency and number of victims.False. Frequency and number has not increased at all. That is a fallacy that they are gleefully spreading. The only way I can think of that might put a brake on such incidents is to apply the NFA to all selfloading firearms. I once read that there has been only a single instance of a legally possessed NFA weapon having been used in a crime. If true, that's an extremely good record.

"Solving" the problem of mass shootings is a red herring. If you snapped your fingers and every small arm on planet earth disappeared instantly, then a month from now they'd be asking "how do we solve the problem of mass ________ (insert method of killing here)? If I were a would-be mass killer, I could just as easily accomplish the task with a five gallon can of gasoline, explosives, an F350 truck, etc., etc., etc......

Arson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dupont_Plaza_Hotel_arson

Explosives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

We could go on and on. Murder is already illegal. We have a RIGHT to bear arms, allowing that right to be stolen in violation of the US Constitution will not stop people with evil intent from killing.

If a "madman" steals a dump truck and plows it through a crowded school yard during recess, will the victims be any less dead because a firearm wasn't used? The entire argument really is that simple. They don't care about that. They simply seek to disarm us by any means possible, and since they can't get them all at once, they are content to take them in slices. They must be stopped, or this republic will be lost.

ETA: NFA registration for all semi's? I'm seriously starting to worry about you Stan. Think about it for just a second.... The reason that legal NFA weapons have very rarely been involved in crime is because criminals don't bother to comply with the NFA. It's reeeaaaaallllllyyyy that simple. Crooks bent on committing crimes don't bother to submit their fingerprints to the ATF (unless they are applying for employment there that is...).

Please tell me you are just being intentionally obtuse. Law abiding gun owners don't commit crimes. OK, derrrr. Because if they were committing crimes they wouldn't be law abiding would they? Also, a legal NFA weapon ceases to be a "legal" one once it's stolen, hence the fabulous record for "legal" NFA arms.

Future criminals will simply print their weapons anyway.