There is a split that is, for the time being, incapable of being resolved. It will be resolved, and there will be gun control. Some of this is on its last legs. But, a part of the problem is a lack of reality about American history. A non-existent history has been manufactured.
If you go back to the time of the revolutionary war, there were fewer than a thousand long rifles in existence in the colonies, only about 800 available to the revolutionaries. The old muskets were so inaccurate that you had a decent chance of surviving a charge across an open field, and if you were hit, it was probably meant tor the guy next to you.
Meanwhile, what the colonists in general thought was of little consequence. The Constitution was written by what was essentially the elite class. As one kid put it in graduate school, "they insisted on equal rights among the planter class." You are professing that they were concerned with the rights of a plebiscite to bear arms. Really? They didn't even allow the common man to vote. Many states required that only voters who owned property could vote. Certainly, no minorities, and certainly no women (until 1920 some 145 years later) were to be permitted to vote, much less exercise their "rights."
Now, as to the matter of the Second Amendment, who is actually awarded the right to bear arms? A well-regulated militia. Said nothing about the people that you didn't even intend to allow to vote. Exactly what was a militia? Most of the men in any "army" didn't have the funds to sustain themselves. Any rich guy who wanted and had money could form a militia (again, enter the planter class). This well-regulated militia was under the control of someone who generally shared the opinions with others of his crowd, certainly not the riff-raff. Arms were meant to be mostly under the control of the colonists who had the money and power to finance the revolution in the first place.
We happen to be very lucky, Along with all of these guys who just wanted to get out from under British control of their business dealings, there were some very special men. Unlike most of the others who were just in it for themselves, these men saw the opportunity to lay a foundation. They were well-read, had even read most of the philosophical works of their day. Find one like that today. But, men like Madison and Jefferson saw the opportunity to lay a foundation for a country that they saw only in their dreams. They knew it wouldn't happen at that time. Jefferson was opposed to slavery, as were Adams and Madison. But, Jefferson owned slaves, a reality of his time. But, while unable to eliminate it at that time, they did provide a document that could be amended as we learned and made progress. Some are foolish enough to want to go back to the good old days. They built this nation for dreams yet unrealized, and they probably were too bigoted, as men of their times, to accept easily where we are, until they thought about it.. It was done so well that the one thing that we have exported to the world voluntarily is the works of Madison and Jefferson. Every country in the western world had some copy of their document as the foundation of their country.
And, come on folks. It's one thing to join the NRA and have a rifle. I did, sixty years ago. But, I would throw the current NRA out of the association. It is nothing more than a group, not all of whom are Americans, who want to sell guns. Next, you'll insist that a National French Cuff Association has determined that it is your right and responsibility to buy French Cuffs. Nobody wants you rifle or shotgun. When I grew up in a small Oklahoma town, even the farmers thought a pistol was useless. It was only useful to kill people. Nobody needs a weapon that can kill fifty people in ten minutes. The idea that any gun would do it is silly. The Las Vegas shooter would probably have shot ten if he had only had a rifle or shotgun. Those in the church who weren't shot with the first clip of six would have tackled the shooter as he reloaded if he hadn't had the ability to fire off another hundred shells before they could get to him. You have the right to have a car. You don't have the right to drive in 100 mph on the sidewalk. We regulate things for a reason. We don't want nuts to flip out and kill a hundred. At least limit him to a clip of ten or something.
Now, go back and try to figure out exactly who those forefathers thought they needed a militia to protect themselves from. Remember that they weren't all on the same page. But, they had no intention of protecting the riff-raff. Sorry to ruin you pipe dreams. Madison and Jefferson knew they were mostly jerks, and they wrote a document that would be good tomorrow, not only in 1820.
