Peg: You state that: ...the wording of the second amendment (that gun-totin' fools like you and Charlton Heston are so fond of) refers to muskets that take a good long time to load; it does NOT include handguns, because there was no such thing at the time.

With all respect, two points:

Point one: There were definitely such things as handguns at the time of the American revolution and the framing of the Constitution. Ask the ghost of Alexander Hamilton - who was killed in a formal duel with Aaron Burr - with pistols. Actually, vastly more people were killed by handguns when formal duels were in fashion - late 18th and early 19th centuries - than in the "wild west" era. Maybe even more than in the inner cities now.

Point two: If the second amendment only applies to technology that was in use at the time of its enactment, then, to be consistent, the other amendments must also apply only to technology then in use. This would mean that "freedom of speech and of the press" would apply only to face-to-face speech and hardcopy newspapers, magazines, etc. None at all for speech on radio, TV, the telephone, the (gasp)internet, etc... Are you sure that's what you want? Or does your logic only apply when it produces the result you want?

Peter.