Gun Murders: An Epidemic

Editor,

From drive by shootings, to mass killings at malls and schools, to daily killings on the streets of our cities, murder with guns has become epidemic. Americans own far more guns than any other country in the world with 390 million gun owners.  In 2020 homicide rate dramatically increased by 25%, and 2021 looks to become even higher.  

The NRA’ adage that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” does not appear to be true.  It appears that the bad guys are winning.  When our founding fathers initiated the 2nd Amendment, our country was young and lacked sufficient resources to fend off a significant attack.   

Thus: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of the free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  

Gun rights were tied to defending the state, and not individuals.  In DC vs Heller, Justice Breyer wrote in a separate dissent in which he argued that the Second Amendment protects militia-related, not self-defense related, interests, and does not provide absolute protection from government intervention in these interests.  

How much more are we going to take?  It is high time we began a national movement to rescind the 2nd Amendment, and legislate sane and reasonable restrictions on gun ownership.

–Robert S. Thomas, Castro Valley