Letter: Regulate types of guns available to public

When the topic of the Second Amendment came up in a recent Republican debate, Marco Rubio mentioned the importance of placement — it was the Second Amendment written because it was so important to have the right to bear arms to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

What about a follow-up question regarding the importance of the placement of the words “well-regulated militia” at the beginning of that amendment? What does well-regulated mean? Who does the regulating?

A strict constructionist might insist the “arms” one can keep and bear be limited to what was in the purview of the Constitution writers. Since muskets are neither available nor very good for self-protection, that’s not practical. I strongly believe, however, that if our Founding Fathers knew that one day a young man would walk into a school with a weapon that would allow him to kill 20 children and six teachers in less than 5 minutes, those gentlemen would have been appalled.

Citizens should be able to have guns for protection and sport, but surely we could reasonably limit the type of weapons allowed to the general public and do more to keep guns away from people who should not have them without taking away the rights of the “good guys.” May it be so one day soon.

This story was originally published March 12, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Regulate types of guns available to public."