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In the US, "liberal" and "conservative" come from different interpretations of the constitution. A "liberal" is somebody who interprets it liberally, that is, that the people who wrote it couldn't account for every possibility, so interpretations of it should take into account the "spirit" of the work and try to interpret what they wanted when they wrote it. A "conservative" interprets it conservatively, that is, that they only concern themselves with the "letter" of what it says, and that the law is limited to EXACTLY what the document says based on the language at the time it was written.

Without taking obvious sides on this argument in this post, this is part of where the argument over the 2nd amendment comes from - The exact wording of the amendment isn't up for debate - it's written down right over there and anybody can read it. But what the two sides differ on is:

1. What that wording actually means.
2. Whether or not that wording is still relevant.
3. Whether or not that section should be repealed by amendment.

The literal exact wording is: "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."

But what does that actually mean?

To a conservative, it is interpreted using the original meanings of the words with no room for error. The words are sacrosanct and not up for revision or reinterpretation. "well regulated" in 1700s vocabulary means "well equipped and maintained", and a militia was a group of citizens that organized themselves outside of military control. "to keep" means to own "and bear" means to have something in their possession at any time in any situation. So taken together, translated to modern language using the original meanings of the words, it means "A country's security and freedom depend upon citizens coming together with proper equipment, maintenance, and training, so people shall always have the right to own and carry weapons."

But to a liberal, there's room for interpretation and modification. In modern parlance, "well regulated" means "subject to rules and regulations". A "militia" is a volunteer military organization. Taken together, they mean "A military organization with stringent rules." So if the sentence starts with "A well regulated militia...", then does the sentence only apply to those in the military? Combined with the next clause, it goes "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of the free state...". At the time of the writing, militias were the primary system of civilian security. But now we have military and civilian police for security, so do we still need civilian firearm ownership / public carry? If not, then is this clause even necessary anymore? Should an amendment eliminate it?

Again, I'm not taking a side in this post. That's not my goal here. Of course I have my own opinion, but to maintain neutrality, I'm not going to share it on this thread. I'm just trying to illustrate how the terms "conservative" and "liberal" grew out of different interpretations and thoughts regarding the US constitution.