Three letters published on Aug. 10 recommend that all citizens’ access to firearms be restricted in various ways, in response to recent horrible high-profile murder sprees.
Most adults in Washington are automatic members of the State Militia under RCW 38.04.030. The letter writers’ proposed weapon bans would say that we cannot have, or learn to use, the kinds of armaments that we’ll need on short notice if we are ordered into service by the governor under RCW 38.08.050. That would be very poor regulation of the militia. James S. Roberts’ letter (“Gun control is needed,” Our Readers’ Views, Aug. 10) asserts that modern guns are outside our Second Amendment rights. Hmm. Are modern telephones, broadcasting, or the internet outside our First Amendment speech protections? No. The First and Second amendment protections apply to modern technologies.
The core of the Second Amendment is not about hunting. It reserves to average citizens our individual rights to keep and bear military-class weapons so that we can protect our homes, neighborhoods, state, and country. I support restrictions on those who have abused this right, or whose illnesses makes gun possession a risk. But the vast majority of U.S. citizens bear this right well and responsibly.
