General Discussion

"The average gun nut will either ignore the first two clauses, or claim that 'militia' refers to average citizens."

I pointed out that the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise, indeed that the Second Amendment does give individuals, not part of a militia, the right to own guns. And no, the Court ruling doesn't define everybody as being in a militia, stating " 'Keep arms' was simply a common way of referring to possessing arms, for militiamen and everyone else."

As far as the reasons that people keep guns, those vary with the individual. Some own them for self defense, some own them for hunting, some keep them as a tool that is useful in farming and ranching operations, and yes, some keep them because they are afraid that their government will become too powerful, too out of control. But you know what, it doesn't matter what the reason a person chooses to own a gun, the point is, they have every right to do so, within the limits set up by their particular state and federal statutes.