Robomatic, that'd actually suit me just fine. A damn good course of brainwashing in what you should and shouldn't do (which is what most training amounts to, to be perfectly honest) would suit me down to the ground. And all the other conditions above, obviously.

In case you got me wrong from what I said earlier, I'm pro gun control, but I'm also pro gun ownership - I don't see why people shouldn't have them. I just don't want every untrained whacko in the world getting hold of an AK47 on a whim, thanks all the same. :-)

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.

Bruce, the key word here which you've missed is "militia". Do you know what a militia is? It basically amounts to every abled-bodied man in your country being a reservist and being called up to fight if your country goes to war. Since the US couldn't fund a standing army at that time (bcos there was no government in place), ad-hoc defense against external attacks by local militia was the only solution.

But you're not in a militia today, so you're not in a position to use that justification. Even if you were, you'd be screwed because hunting rifles are sod all use against modern artillery, tanks and air support.   So the Second Amendment is about as relevant today as the Jewish rules about not eating pork (which made sense when pigs were the local garbage disposal). Just because someone set some rules over 200 years ago which made sense at the time, I can't see how anyone could reasonably say that those rules should still be applied when the conditions to make them valid haven't existed for over a century.

Graham.

PS. I like the irony that the US constitution specifically provides for the use of militia - ie. people in groups without formal organisation but with guns, defending their country against external invaders - but the US is still imprisoning without trial over 500 people who did the same thing in their country. Makes you think, especially in light of the Seventh Amendment.