Want to add that the discussion over gun rights needs to be informed by the intent of the framers together with rulings over the last 228 years. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." By one reading, a case can and, perhaps should, be made requiring any citizen to have to be a part of his or her state's Military Guard _before_ being able to buy or own a gun. Chances are good that many gun-nut yahoos and hopefully most mentally disturbed murders would never be accepted in any state's Guard. Realistically, I can see a weak argument for legal gun ownership for safety’s sake, but I can’t see why individuals need to own machine guns of any kind.