Letter: Rational gun control should be an option

Let me start by indicating I'm neither a gun owner nor a gun advocate. But I do fully support what I believe was/is the intent of the 2nd Amendment and have no problem with people owning reasonable weapons for both their hunting experiences, target shooting and for personal protection.

After the Colorado Springs and San Bernardino incidents, when anyone mentions "improve gun control," the gun advocates and especially the NRA immediately say "they want to take all of our guns away." Clearly that isn't the intent of those who want to propose outlawing some assault-type weapons and extra-large capacity magazines.

Most of the "gun control" advocates, and I, see no reason to believe that these type of weapons and magazines are necessary for personal protection, or needed by hunters or target shooters. Obviously, I don't support taking away or making illegal all long guns, hand guns and reasonably sized magazines ... and I don't see a "slippery slope" potential here.

Additionally, I do fully support closing any existing loopholes in gun purchasing and gun registration procedures, and perhaps making these procedures uniform throughout the country. I'm not sure how closing these loopholes would significantly affect the pro-gun community nor diminish the rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment.

Certainly, the two sides should be able to fully understand that it's not an "all or nothing" argument and that there's plenty of room for compromise when discussing this volatile issue. Can't we get some rational thoughts into the discussion?

Michael F. Vezeau

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Letter: Rational gun control should be an option."