Girves On Guns

(From time to time, I re-post something from fellow blogger Dave Girves.  This is one of those times.  His comments are succinct and strong.  Dave's blog appears in Buster's Links.)

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Letters to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch:

How many more Newtown style massacres do we need to endure before our legislators do something to control the killing?

The Second Amendment to our Constitution was written for another time in our history – a time when we truly did need “a well regulated militia” of ordinary citizens – a time when that same Constitution counted black citizens as only 3/5’s of a person. Those days are gone.

Even if people do need the right to bear arms in today’s society, there’s a limit to that firepower. Laws already prevent us from owning nuclear arms, grenade launchers, or automatic weapons. Is that where the line should be drawn? Why does anyone need a semi-automatic gun that holds 10 rounds of ammunition? Why does anyone need a gun designed to kill . . . people?

I realize the gun manufacturers have a different point of view, one that puts even more guns in the hands of the public. They have a duty to their greedy stockholders. The drug companies have a duty to their stockholders too but we don’t allow them to sell heroin as easily as guns to help their bottom lines. Greed doesn’t always trump morality. Is the gun lobby that much stronger than the drug lobby?

Do our legislators feel no shame for not having acted sooner? I can think of 27 Connecticut citizens who would have wished they had.