To the editor: Regarding Bob Ladendorf’s recent letter to the editor, the 2nd Amendment is just fine as written (“Letters to the Editor: The patchwork of gun laws across the United States ‘endangers us all,’” Jan. 9). But why is it that folks (and the Supreme Court) continue to ignore what the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution actually says?
It does not just say “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” What it says, in full, is that, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
So why did the patriots who wrote our Constitution include those first 13 words? Though there’s been plenty of debate over this (including in the aforementioned Supreme Court), your English teacher might tell you those first words are what would be called a qualifying clause or condition. And notice that the word “regulated” is contained in those words.
And still, some folks choose to ignore those first 13 words and are vehemently opposed to any gun regulation whatsoever. Multiple polls indicate that the majority of American citizens believe that our country should have more regulation on guns. Yet, one of our major political parties chooses to follow the wishes of the National Rifle Assn. over the wishes of the majority of American citizens. A lot of Americans die because of this, even very young children.
There is nothing wrong with the 2nd Amendment as written. But when are we all going to abide by the entire 2nd Amendment?
Craig Peterson, Santa Monica
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To the editor: I would like to respond to the two anti-2nd Amendment letters to the editor in the Jan. 11 issue.
There needs to be a stop to the constant attacks on the 2nd Amendment individual right of the law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, as upheld by the United States Supreme Court in a number of different cases.
There also needs to be a stop to the bigoted attacks on law-abiding citizens who are gun owners or who wish to become gun owners, and the organizations that support them.
As a counter-balance, each state should be required to keep accurate statistics on crimes prevented by armed, law-abiding citizens. The federal government should publish the statistics each year.
David R. Russell, Santa Monica