This argument is entirely reliant on the hope that the electorate will never delve past this assumption. It requires that a large number of Americans be so unbearably ignorant and aloof that they fail to recognize that a firearm's recreational use has absolutely nothing to do with its usefulness in the context of the most obvious enumeration of our rights as Americans -- the Bill of Rights.
Our Founders had very specific intentions in regard to firearms and the protection of the people's right to own them. And the intent had little, if anything, to do with hunting or sport. The more practical use of guns is to kill people, should that unpleasant need arise.
Consider Thomas Jefferson's reasoning for why the citizenry must have firearms: "And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."
Thomas Jefferson is not known to be a careless author. This statement clearly shows our Founders' resolve in keeping the public armed. Neither was James Madison, principal author of the Bill of Rights. And neither are the chosen words of the Second Amendment careless in conveying this message: "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."
Notably absent is any specificity about hunting or killing game. Notably present is specificity about what and whose rights must not be infringed. It is the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" that shall not be infringed. The "well-regulated militia" is admittedly necessary, but it is not the militia's right that is specifically protected. It is the "people" whose right is specifically protected, because our founders understood that to preserve our liberties, we must have the ability to take up arms against our rulers.
