It is true that people do the killing and that can openers or even table forks, for that matter, are not found to be responsible for mass killings. Despite the ‘gun nut’ conventional wisdom that guns are not responsible for today’s killing of 20 children in Newton, CT, but that an individual person was responsible, it is the availability of firearms that result in mass murders. Can openers and tableware are cheaper and more abundant than guns but neither are a problem to the safety of school children, though both are available to perfectly sane people and lunatics as well.
The Second Amendment is a straw man and always has been. Yes the Constitution guarantees the individual the right to bear arms, but it is plain that this right was attached to a mutual obligation. That obligation was for the armed individual to bring his arms to the defense of his community. Since we do not have universal militia service in the US, the other half of the obligation is being ignored and by any reasonable logic the right is thereby abrogated.
It is also significant to note that the Constitution did not grant a universal right to bear arms. At the time of the founding of our Nation, neither women, nor Indians, nor slaves had any such right. The notion of a universal right to bear arms has never been a part of our law. In fact the arming of slaves and Indians was specifically prohibited by the very States and Commonwealths that became the United States.
There are any number of people who are ready to subscribe to any number of notions about conspiracies that supposedly threaten freedom. I cannot imagine that laws keeping lethal gasses and biological weapons from being readily available on the consumer market are seen as threats to freedom. No, such laws are seen to be a part of the fabric of the protection of our citizenry. Firearms can and should be regulated and controlled as are any other serious threats to human health and safety. The fear that regulation and control will allow confiscation is an irrational phobia.
In any event, I’d rather my .22 pistol be taken from my warm hand than have even one more child’s cold dead hand have to be opened to put his or her pencil back on the desk.
Sanchismos 
You could not have made it clearer. Thanks and I shared it on FB.
I don’t see how any rational person could argue with such a compelling point of view as this one. All future rhetoric about “the right to bear arms” should require such language as “the right to bear arms in defense of one’s community.”
Extremely well written and to the point. What heartache that maladjusted folks, like this 20 year old, can readily have athand WMD. Where are Cheney and Rummie when really needed? Joe