[TheForge] Criminal Background Check

[Andy Gladish]

Bruce, you and I are about right in line in how we'd like the law to  
behave in regard to firearms.
Still, your letter is just one more attempt to "prove" that the phrase  
"the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"  
means something other than "the right of the people to keep and bear arms  
shall not be infringed."

To 'Infringe' means to trespass upon- not to remove or negate, but to step  
even upon the edges of.

My understanding of this article is that even if the first phrase was, "In  
order that people who like to have guns shall have all the things that go  
boom that they want" it would still be the law of the land as written, and  
apply to us all until amended by legal process.

in·fringe      (ĭn-frĭnj')  Pronunciation Key
v.   in·fringed, in·fring·ing, in·fring·es

v.   tr.
To transgress or exceed the limits of; violate: infringe a contract;  
infringe a patent.
Obsolete To defeat; invalidate.
v.   intr.
To encroach on someone or something; engage in trespassing: an increased  
workload that infringed on his personal life.

[Latin īnfringere, to destroy : in-, intensive pref.; see in-2 + frangere,  
to break; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.]
in·fring'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Respectfully,
Andy G.