It's fun to post. This thread though has to take the cake for being the longest and most argumentative (perhaps) during the Board's tenure. While reading its posts I've noticed that not many of them cite academic references. Maybe doing so would be more instructive and conclusive. If you haven't already, you might try (or not) reading Madison's Bill of Rights proposal to the 1st US House; read the relevant text of the 1789 House and Senate Journals; read Akhil Amar's biography of the Constitution as well as his Bill of Rights work; read the Supreme Court's entire Heller opinion (or at least the Syllabus of it); read Max Farrand's Records of the Constitutional Convention; familiarize yourself with the concept of Original Intent; of course, read the Constitution, but read it as a person in 18th century America would read and understand it.