[TheForge] OT, but I Just have to ask...

[magichammer]

Thanks Andrew for taking this Off List, it has nothing to do with metal 
work.
dave m (list mom)

Andrew Vida wrote:

> Perhaps more to the point, if one reads through the various writings 
> of the time, such as the Federalist Papers, it is clear that 
> principles of just and sound government were not tied to the 
> peculiarities of a given era's state of technological capabilities.  
> Were that so, then it would follow that the entire constitution could 
> be readily deemed null and void.  There was no electricity in 1776, 
> save lightning and static from furs on cold winter nights; there were 
> no computers, or cars, or trains, or aircraft...  we could find a 
> million reasons to claim that this provision or that provision of the 
> constitution is no longer valid.  It is absurd on its face, yet there 
> are people that will make, with a very straight face, the sort of 
> assertion that Bruce has made about flintlock's and horse-drawn black 
> powder cannon.  The reasoning seems valid to those who accept it, 
> methinks, precisely because many of them are so unconfortable with the 
> idea of firearms (or weapons of any sort) in private hands.  We could 
> go on and on about the psychology behind this, but I'll spare us all.  
> Anyone interested in discussing it, I'm happy to do so with you offlist.
>
> Ralph Douglass wrote:
>
>> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>>
>>> Or, technically no.
>>>
>>> Since the Constitution became the law of the land in 1789 (?), ONLY
>>> arms that existed then would apply.  Flintlock and matchlock
>>> muzzle-loaders.  Maybe a cannon drawn by horses.  Bows, crossbows, no
>>> composite materials or compound actions...
>>>
>>> Two can play the semantics game.
>>
>>
>> This is true. But I ask where exactly does it say in the Constition that
>> only the things at the time of the signing or ratification are allowed?
>> Otherwise we have about 37 states too many.
>>
>> Ralph
>
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