Comment on The Wrong Way To Argue About Assault Weapons by James Harris

@ Lowell: I would add that some states (i.e., Virginia) have a lower age that encompasses the "unorganized militia." Virginia extends the age between 16 and 55 (as I recall); and, does not discriminate by gender the way the federal statute does. @dpmaine: U R assuming harmful secondary effects as if somebody, to "protect themselves," will install a doomsday thermo-nuclear device that will take out the whole area based on some kind of "deadman trigger." That kind of outta-the-blue hyperbole just reinforces the notion that we all have a duty and obligation to be victims -- itself, a most egregious outcome for the larger society. The arguments for the armed citizen are only those that put us on some kind of even footing (THEY still have the element of surprise, by being the vicious aggressor) with the forces of darkness and slavery around us.