[libstripper]

The author of this piece of socialist garbage is apparently some socialist Brit. If you read though it you'll find the article is unintentionally funny because Knightley, the author, basically regurgitates all of the false scholarship of Michael Bellesiles, the disgraced Emory University professor who was forced to resign his tenured position after many scholars proved Arming America, the book Knightley uses for his article without direct attribution, was a academic fraud. Funniest of all, Knightley identifies Bellesiles but doesn't mention anything about his subsequent disgrace.

[Peach]

Sounds like more made up BS to me.

[calex59]

All these "facts" are BS and have been refuted long ago.

[EagleUSA]

More pinko, anti-America, anti-freedom crap.

[Disambiguator]

When I read this kind of tripe I am overcome with the desire to go buy a handgun just because I can.

[Firefigher NC]

I wrote a letter to the editor for our local paper during the debate over the assault weapons ban sunset, in repsonse to an over simplified and uneducated piece similar to this. Got lots of compliments on it.

[nmh]

How come in colonial times kids had guns. They were expected to hunt for food. How come they didn't kill their parents or become drive by snipers on their horses or bikes later on?

Is it because they had a more godly lifestyle?

[ncountylee]

Hey Knightley....you have convinced me, why not drop by to pick up my guns? Late at night is best and just walk in, no need to knock as I am expecting you.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

There is a 'contact us' URL on the same page as this crAP regurgitated. Likely a note of protest to the editor will be more effective that throwing-up pearls before the swine DUmmie excapees here.

[Centurion2000]

Not only is it possible in many American states to buy a handgun over the counter, no questions asked

Complete pantload right there. Ever heard of form 4473?

[El Gato]

What a Maroon. He quotes the second amendment twice, and gets it wrong both times. Of course what he leaves out gives lie to his basic thesis, so leaving it out twice is very telling.

The famous Second Amendment reads: "The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed".

The full Second Amendment reads: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed."

The little part about the right to keep arms gives complete lie to the theory that:
it was the right of the people to organise and arm themselves as militias, repeat militias, that was being guaranteed, not the right to carry arms when on private business.

He shows he doesn't even understand what probate was and is, that is a record of what person owned *at the time of his death*. They were notoriously incomplete anyway, as children and grandchildren helped themselves to the possessions of the the departed (often before departure) before filing the paperwork.

[SauronOfMordor]

It's true only if you count all drug-gang members under 21 as "children", which is how they get their statistics. The number of accidental shooting deaths of pre-adolescents is around 20-30 per year

[ExpatGator]

"Professor Michael Bellesiles, of Emory University, Atlanta, has looked at gun ownership at the time of the War of Independence, looking mainly at probate inventories, where citizens had to list everything they owned."

I got no further than this tripe. The author of this, one PHILLIP KNIGHTLEY, is noted for his books and articles on propoganda and spying. All of his writings have an EXTREME Anti-Western stance. He is just another turd in the cesspool of EXTREME LIBERALISM and wants our liberties and freedoms to end so that his utopian visions can be realized.

F-you Phillip. Molon Labe, pantywaist.

[gitmo]

It turns out that there is no need to do so. The full Second Amendment reads: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed."

So it was the right of the people to organise and arm themselves as militias, repeat militias, that was being guaranteed, not the right to carry arms when on private business.

Apparently, the author is illiterate. It does NOT read "the right of the people to belong to a militia shall not be infringed."

Its case is simple: the framers of the American Constitution, those self-reliant frontiersmen, won freedom from English repression in the War of Independence because they had a Constitutional right to bear arms.

He also doesn't know history. The Bill of Rights wasn't ratified until 1791. There was no Constitution during the Revolutionary war.

[mtbopfuyn]

Surprise, surprise: at no time before 1850 did more than a tenth of the adult male population own guns.

Before 1850 we just threw rocks at the Indians, Mexicans, bears, and rattlesnakes. If we wanted dinner that day, we'd chase it down and have a hand to hoof/paw fight.

[definitelynotaliberal]

I couldn't bring myself to read the article, but the first line was certainly encouraging. I'm delighted to know that children in the United States are twelve times more likely to die of gunshot wounds than any other country in the world not actually involved in civil war. That means nobody needs to worry about children in Gaza. Here I thought those kids were just getting mowed down.

Thanks for the barf alert. Please post any articles this writer produces on kids getting killed by suicide belts, etc.. I'm certain those too will be illuminating.

[Reactionary]

Ah, yes. Once again the brainy liberals define "children" as anyone who helps support their delusional ravings.

[paul51]

The full Second Amendment reads: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed." So it was the right of the people to organise and arm themselves as militias, repeat militias, that was being guaranteed, not the right to carry arms when on private business.

Wrong. It was necessary for the state to maintain a militia. In recognition of that and the fact that this could result in tyranny against an unarmed populace, the founders recognized the right of the people to also be armed.

[DustyMoment]

HERE is an amazing statistic for you— children in the United States are twelve times more likely to die of gunshot wounds than any other country in the world not actually involved in civil war.

And, here's another statistic back at ya - by opposing and obstructing teaching firearm safety, the leftists have caused the number of "children" killed/injured by guns to rise. Just as they have caused the numbers of people worldwide who die of mosquito-borne diseases to rise; and the number of aborted children to rise; and . . . . . .

[muir_redwoods]

"When mass production made guns cheap, then every cowboy in the West carried a Colt, walked tall and was ready for a gun duel, just like in a Hollywood western. Not so, says Palmer. Tombstone, Arizona and Dodge City, Kansas, towns notorious in Hollywood mythology actually had very low murder rates because cowboys had their guns confiscated at the city limits."

So, they confiscated the guns they weren't carrying because almost no one had one?

Mr. Knightley cannot claim logic as his strong suit.

[Christopher Lincoln]

Philip Knightley is the writer who reported that the U.S. military was murdering reporters.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,977702,00.html