In the wake of the tragic events that unfolded last month in a Connecticut elementary school, the German press has highlighted the gun culture in America and how the U.S. Constitution seemly makes it quite difficult to put limitations on this culture. At issue, of course, is the Second Amendment to the U..S. Constitution, which states:A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.The meaning of this awkwardly written sentence has been argued from the halls of academia to the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. And the arguments appear to be more about grammar and punctuation then anything else, as a recent post at the University of Pennsylvania's "Language Log" reminds us.
This post is a must read for anyone who is interested in the debate about how the Second Amendment can be interpreted and the role that language plays in this debate.
