motive for having the weapons is immaterial. if you are prevented from carrying a gun, it's a bit difficult to do either. besides, i quite believe that the framers came from a time when it was often necessary to defend oneself from other citizens (as well as other predators) and the thought of this was on their minds when the 2nd was written.
taks
Perhaps...
I guess my problem with all of it is that I don't really like that the arguments in favor or against have begun to revolve around home defense. With all of the carrying on that people have done about the Patriot Act and how GWB is stripping us of our freedoms, etc., I guess I'm just surprised that more people don't seem to "get" the notion that our constitution / bill of rights was set up because of a mistrust of government and that the second amendment is the assurance that we have the right to stand up to whatever government comes into power.
That doesn't mean you won't get mowed down if you decide to fight the government and everyone else thinks you're crazy (i.e. Waco / Ruby Ridge). You will.
All that being said, coming from the viewpoint that the second amendment protects us from our government... I really don't like the idea of registries. Once the goverment knows where the guns are... it's just a very short step to sending out the troops to collect them.