[Vision2020] discharging firearms

[Robert Dickow]

Concerning 'bearing arms' and the term 'bear,' 
while Dictionary.com may show this definition...

"22. to have and use; exercise: to bear authority; to bear sway."

I question its application in the context of 'bearing arms' to mean to 'use'
the gun. Just use 
'bear' as a substitution in a sentence and you'll see why:

"Aim high when you bear your gun". (This still refers to the posture of
holding the gun, not shooting it.).

"Don't make noise when I bear my gun at yonder rabbit." (Just doesn't make
sense.)

"Hands up, Mr., or I'll take my gun and bear it." (Also doesn't make much
sense.)

I don't think the original meaning was all that different than our sense of
it today.

Bob Dickow, troublemaker



 -----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Craine Kit
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 7:12 PM
To: Garrett Clevenger
Cc: vision2020_moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] discharging firearms

Since languages change over time, perhaps the question should be "how  
was  'bear' defined when the constitution was written"?

Kit Craine


On Nov 5, 2010, at 5:12 PM, Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at frontier.com>  
wrote:

> I got my definition at dictionary.com.  It was the last definition  
> for the verb "bear"
>
> "22. to have and use; exercise: to bear authority; to bear sway."
>
> Perhaps it's a gun lover conspiracy to change the word to fit their  
> favor?
<snip>