Here’s what the Second Amendment to the Constitution actually says:
“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.”
It has to do with a “well regulated Militia,” which we have come to understand as today’s National Guard. Nowhere does it say that private citizens can have any quantity of any type of firearm they choose.
I support the spirit of the Second Amendment, and the right of every law-abiding adult citizen to own firearms. But that must come with reasonable restrictions.
You must be 21 years of age to purchase, register or own any kind of firearm. We need to have expanded, enhanced, comprehensive background checks that would include any criminal activity as well as mental health records, military records, legal activity and education records. And there should be a waiting period (three days?) for a gun sale. There should be no manufacture, sale or ownership of any thing that would turn an ordinary hunting rifle into a version of an assault weapon.
Advocating these types of controls is neither conservative nor progressive. It is sanity, and common sense.
Philip Cardin, Millcreek