Guns, Slavery, the NRA and the ATF January 18, 2013 Stewart Dean: “I find this hard to believe or that it hasn’t surfaced before now, but it appears that the militias of the Second Amendment were patrols to suppress slave revolt and that the Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights at the insistence of the southern states. If true, it turns the whole concept of protected gun ownership on its head. Here (‘The Second Amendment Was Ratified to Preserve Slavery’). And here. And here. This theory doesn’t seem to be countered anywhere (search on ‘slavery second amendment’), though the fellow that originally brought it forward in 1998 has the unfortunate name of Carl Bogus.” Be that rather important history as it may, what you really need to see to understand the NRA and ATF outrages that undergird the current pro-assault weapon lobby is this Jon Stewart clip, and then this unmissable continuation. Seriously. Don’t miss these. Have a great Inaugural Weekend. And a great Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Have you seen “Lincoln?” Oh, my.