The Second Amendment

The 2nd Amendment is clearly stated as final check and balance against the potential of the government to become tyrannical:  I think that much is very evident and not subject to contention. 

The march of progress and technology and militarization has gone on for TWO HUNDRED YEARS since it was written.  Back then, having your own musket at home could make you pretty much a match for the firepower of any soldier in any army.  

Today, even the most well armed group of citizens would be utterly delusional to fancy itself capable of putting up a real fight against the US Army, or honestly, most SWAT teams.  Firefight standoffs like Waco and such have only been prolonged because of restraint on the part of the government forces involved.  Even the urban warfare in the Middle East is only as dicey as it is out of an effort to show restraint towards noncombatants and to limit overall destruction.

The Second Amendment made sense when it was written - LONG before the Industrial Revolution, LONG before WWI - let alone more modern warfare.  There were no machine guns; there were no tanks; there were no helicopters; there were no drones;  there was no heat seeking night vision targeting.  The Second Amendment was written before a gun could shoot twice in a row without stopping to tamp powder with a ramrod.  

We had a Civil War once and it was brutal and horrible and painful and ugly - and guess who won?  Without electronic surveillance or air superiority or chemical weapons or anywhere near the OVERWHELMING advantage of firepower and technology, the US Government ultimately came out on top.  It would not be as close a contest today.