Does the 2nd Amendment protect suicide vests?

[DemPGH]

The really big issue to me is the flaw in "original intent," and this question exposes it. When the founders wrote the second amendment, street violence, shooting sprees, AK-47s, UZIs, gangs, tanks, jets, nuclear bombs, suicide bombers, and we could go on (read, contemporary problems), were simply not part of what they could conceive of as "bearing arms." They had gunpowder and matchlock muskets! Or maybe the thing above a matchlock. I'm a Medievalist, so I know they had matchlocks then and in the 15th century, but really, we're talking about muskets and ragtag armies.

Clearly, the answer to the question is "No." Having said that, I am not opposed to private ownership of handguns and rifles. I think more than ever, though, this issue needs to be looked at from a fresher perspective than what the founders offer in the second amendment as applied to today. Good luck, though. The NRA wields a disturbing amount of power, and they are fanatical.