Don’t need all weapons

The time has come to get serious about controlling private ownership of weapons that were not even conceived of by the authors of our Bill of Rights.

We are not disputing the right to own a gun to hunt with, or to defend one’s family. What is entirely irrational is the National Rifle Association’s assertion of a right to own an instrument whose only purpose is to kill many humans rapidly. People can’t do that without assault-type weapons. Or maybe poison gas, but you never see that on sale. Or anti-aircraft missiles either.

Sometimes soldiers have such a task. Sometimes police do. Conceivably, a state government might maintain such a force. Not a private militia. Not a gun club. Not a megalomaniac under any circumstance.

What we ordinary citizens have a right to expect is safety for our children, and freedom from fear of civil war. For those rights we must depend on the police or the government.

Please, Congress, get busy and do your job. Vote your conscience, not your party. Your responsibility is to empower the elected government, not the NRA nor the guns-and-ammo manufacturers and dealers.

Keith and Lois Dahlberg

Kellogg