Letter to the editor: Why are large-capacity guns legal?
To the editor,
– Can someone please explain to me why large-capacity guns are legal? I understand the argument: The 2nd Amendment. But we already have some gun control. We aren’t allowed to own machine guns.
Is it the right to protect ourselves and our property? I believe the intent of the 2nd Amendment is to protect ourselves from an overbearing government. But here’s the thing. When the 2nd Amendment was written, the weapons were much less sophisticated. Currently, with the weapons and manpower the government controls, the government could easily take your property, or your life, if “they” wanted to. I put “they” in quotes as ‘they’ is really “we.” We all have the right to vote and run for office.
Is it the right to protect ourselves and our property from potential bad guys? I don’t know the statistics, but at this point, I feel like your child is more likely to be shot at school or your mother in church than you are on your own property. My father-in-law owned a veterinary hospital. When it was broken into, the thief didn’t take the dozens of narcotics. They took the gun.
Is it because semi-automatic weapons are fun? I have never done it, but it must be thrilling to shoot one. The other day, I was driving down 101 and two drivers decided to make the freeway their personal race track. They were going at least 100 miles an hour using the other cars as obstacles to be avoided. It looked like fun but we have laws against that because the potential destruction far outweighs the “thrill” for two idiots.
There were 21 people killed in the Uvalde shooting. But the damage is exponentially more than that. The parents, the siblings, the classmates, the friends, the children of the two teachers -they are forever scarred.
So, what is the argument to keep these weapons legal?
Nancy McWhorter
Paso Robles
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