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The SCOTUS billionairists have turned the 2nd amendment on its head [1]

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Date: 2024-06-20  

The original purpose of the second amendment was to protect communities. The second amendment arose from the recognition by the framers of the constitution that communities could be effectively protected from violence by well-regulated militias and that communities should be guaranteed the right to arm their own militias. Well-regulated militias were critical to the Americans winning their war of independence.

Militias demonstrated their power to protect communities. The greatest death count attributed to the action of armed militias during the American Revolutionary War occurred at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. This battle was a pivotal encounter between Patriot militia forces and Loyalist forces led by British Major Patrick Ferguson.

In the Battle of Kings Mountain, a force of around 900 Patriot militia men surrounded and attacked some 1,100 Loyalists. The 1-hour battle was intense and resulted in a decisive victory for the Patriots. Three hundred and eighty-nine Loyalists were shot, among whom 225 died of their wounds. Ninety Patriots were shot, among whom 28 died of their wounds.

The battle was a significant blow to British efforts to maintain allegiance to the king by residents in the Southern colonies and illustrated how effect militia forces were in protecting communities from violence of any kind during the period of the American Revolutionary War.

Militias’ primary weapon was the musket. During the American Revolutionary War, the standard musket used by both Patriots and British forces was the smoothbore musket. These muskets were muzzle-loading, which required several steps to reload and fire. An experienced and well-trained soldier could typically fire about 2 to 3 rounds per minute under optimal conditions. This process involved the five discrete steps: 1) The soldier would bite off the end of a paper cartridge that contained gunpowder and a musket ball. 2) A small amount of the gunpowder was poured into the flash pan. 3) The rest of the gunpowder and the musket ball, still in the paper, was poured down the barrel. 4) The soldier would then use a ramrod to push the cartridge and ball down to the bottom of the barrel. 5) Finally, the soldier would aim and fire the musket by pulling the trigger, which ignited the gunpowder in the pan and subsequently the gunpowder in the barrel.

2.5 rounds per minute was the upper limit in 1780. While 2 to 3 rounds per minute was achievable for skilled soldiers, this rate could be affected by the soldier's experience, the stress of combat, the heat resistance and wear-and-tear of the musket, and environmental conditions, like rain. Less experienced soldiers or those under heavy fire undoubtedly fired at a slower rate. In other words, the 900 patriots in the Battle of Kings Mountain collectively could theoretically fire at most approximately 2,250 rounds per minute, which was enough to overwhelm the battle-hardened, British government-trained loyalists. It took the Patriots about one hour to shoot 389 of the Loyalists, killing 225 of them. Compare that to Steven Paddock's ability to shoot over 460 unarmed civilians, killing 58 of them, in little more than 10 minutes. How did a single individual with some 20 weapons in 2017 mimic the fire power of a 900-strong militia operating just a few years before the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted? The answer is bump stocks. Bump stocks permitted Steven Paddock to accelerate the firing of semi-automatic assault weapons so that they mimicked the rate of fire of fully automatic weapons. Bump stocks permit firing rates of approximately 400 to 800 rounds per minute, depending on the specific weapon and conditions, approximately 240 times the firing rate of the Revolutionary War Patriot wielding a musket.

Billionairist justices create new right. The second amendment was established to guarantee communities the right to form and train 900+-person armed militias to protect them from violence. Instead of protecting communities, as was the original intent of the second amendment, the billionairists on the U.S. Supreme Court have now created a new right of any single adult, no matter how deranged, to terrorize communities at will. This ruling is consistent with the MAGA absolutist interpretation of an individual right to bear arms, regardless of the original intent of the framers of the Constitution. Is it any wonder that the billionairist wing of the Court has succeeded in plunging the public esteem of the Court from the highest of all legal occupations (juries, prosecutors, district attorneys, state judges, circuit judges, defense attorneys) to the lowest? The would-be felon-in-chief has crowed about his role in creating the current billionairist wing of the Court and implicitly promises to repeat this achievement in his next administration. That threat alone should be enough to motivate the rational voter to make sure that the Former Guy does not return to office.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/20/2247488/-The-SCOTUS-billionairists-have-turned-the-2nd-amendment-on-its-head?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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