If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak! ---Hamlet.
Quick! Someone get in touch with the editor of Guns & Ammo magazine, Dick Metcalf, and let him know that "happily" as used in the early 17 century by William Shakespeare does not mean "happy" but "perhaps." And perhaps (happily) Mr. Metcalf won't make the same ridiculous error again when he completely misinterpreted the 18th century meaning of "Well regulated militia" in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to mean government regulations as a justification to call for gun control.
Bryan Preston of the PJ Tatler points out the blatantly obvious which went completely over Metcalf's head when he wrote a gun control column:
“Well-regulated” in the late 18th Century, when the Second Amendment was written, is not referring to government regulating anything. It meant well armed, well organized or well drilled.
“Shall not be infringed” should speak for itself.
Michelle Wright of The Free Patriot also comments about Metcalf's mental capacity:
Time to cancel your subscriptions, Guns and Ammo Editor Dick Metcalf has penned an editorial for their December issue that will be leaving fans in shock; he’s supporting gun control. Metcalf claims there is a large difference between regulation, (well-regulated militia) and a direct infringement of civil rights, he has made this distinction the premise of his claims.
“I bring this up,” he wrote, “because way too many gun owners still believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement. The fact is that all Constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” Facepalm moment anyone? Now that Metcalf is no longer in a fit mental capacity to be left alone, someone should send Adult Protective services over for a welfare check.
“Many argue that any regulation at all is, by definition, an infringement. If that were true, then the authors of the Second Amendment themselves, should not have specified “well-regulated.”
To quote Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."
UPDATE: You can read a PDF of Dick Metcalf's column here.
