At her Feb. 21 telephone town hall, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, reaffirmed the reasons for her “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
She is for continuing civilian access to military-style weapons. She, with most of her Republican colleagues in Congress, seem to forget that the Founding Fathers in writing the Second Amendment prefaced the right to bear arms with the words “A well regulated militia.” That gives government the authority to regulate the type of weapons accessible to the citizenry. There are plenty of gun owners in this country — like me — who firmly believe that military-style weapons like the AR-15 have no place in the hands of untrained civilians.
There is no argument that the mental health system in this country is in need of vast improvement, but it is completely unrealistic to ignore the desperate need to get a grip on gun violence in our country by controlling access to weapons of war. We can start by voting out Herrera Beutler in November and electing someone who will work to keep our kids safe in their classrooms and the public safe on American streets.
