The Second Amendment to the Constitution states that "A well regulated militia being necessary … the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The arms referred to were muzzleloading single-shot muskets and citizens were expected to bring their own to conflicts.
Today, we are defended by paid armed forces and the citizen soldiers of the Reserves and National Guard. They and law enforcement are armed with weapons designed for their use and whose purpose is often to kill.
The Second Amendment gives citizens these rights, but it need not extend to the weapons designed for and used by the military. There is no legitimate civilian use for automatic or semi-automatic weapons. These are not target weapons or sporting weapons, but killing weapons. Otherwise, why the term "assault rifle"?
Despite the opinions of Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association, our legislators should show some backbone and remove these weapons from Second Amendment protection.
Thelma Iker
Salt Lake City
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"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."
As the Constitution explains, the right to bear arms was initially meant to arm a More..
What's really frightening in all this debate is the number of people whose paranoia leads them to try to warn sane people of the need to be ready to defend ourselves from our own government.
I'm sorry, but thinking like that is
Well said Kathleen. As I and others have said elsewhere, this discussion is about how to prevent more mass murders..not how to take away peoples 2nd amendment rights (although 300million guns in America is insanity)..but I digress. Semi-automatic More..