The Constitution guarantees a “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” This statement is widely misinterpreted. To understand it appropriately, the purpose, setting, and objectives of the draftsmen must be looked at. People living in what is now the United States at the time when the Constitution was written were very wary about the creation of a national government. The fear was that if the national government was given too much power, that the people could be oppressed like they were in England. The colonists thought that the best way to keep the government from having too much power was to not create a standing national army. This way there would be no way the government could really force any state to follow its rules. Congress approved the right to bear arms and also limited the national army to 840 men. To make up for the lack of a large national army, the people formed militias to defend themselves. A militia required that the people have their own guns. When the constitution was written, guns were needed in everyday life. They were needed to defend the country from the British, to defend the homes from Indians, and to kill game for food.
The second amendment to the constitution is not relevant to our life today. The constitution is an arcane document in these times. This does not mean that it is not useful, but it needs some adaptations to the world of today. When was the last time you had to fight off the British, to drive back Indians, or needed to kill game for food? We have an enormous army to protect us. The right to bear arms was created as a supplement for the lack of a standing national army, and when that did not work a large national army was created, thereby making the right to bear arms unnecessary. Now the second amendment is twisted around by stupid bucktoothed hicks in the NRA into a law that says they can have weapons that they do not need.
Lets be honest with ourselves. We have guns and want to keep them because guns are cool. If you say that we have guns because it is in the Constituition, then you really don't know much about the Second Amendment at all, and are just using that as justification beyond your real motive. It is fun to have firearms, and I enjoy knowing that if anyone ever tried to kill me, they would be in for some shit.