I respectfully disagree with the recent commentary in New Times by Pat Veesart (“A modest proposal,” March 29). The purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to limit the power of government and to protect the individual rights of all Americans. The purpose of the Second Amendment is not to deter crime but to deter an oppressive government. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” That right was given to the people by the Founding Fathers to protect the people from government oppression. The Founding Fathers were well aware of the dangers of an all-powerful government. The individual right to keep and bear arms was further confirmed in the Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller.
Crimes are not committed by guns, crimes are committed by criminals. Criminals by definition will always have guns because they defy the law. Only law-abiding citizens obey the law, thus gun-control laws only affect those who obey the law. Just governments protect the right to bear arms, oppressive governments prohibit the right to bear arms. The penalty for the crime of murder is death or life in prison. If the death penalty or life in prison is insufficient to deter one from committing the crime of murder, how could any other law do more? Please give that some thought.
John Texeira
Paso Robles
This article appears in Apr 19-29, 2018.
“The purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to limit the power of government and to protect the individual rights of all Americans. ” That, or to facilitate the transfer of wealth from the working class and the poor to those at the top, along with codifing genocide and slavery, which the US was founded upon, much of which persists to this day…
” The purpose of the Second Amendment is not to deter crime but to deter an oppressive government. ” That, or to suppress slave revolts and to keep slaves in their place…
“The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” ” Well, you left out: “A well regulated militia…”
The Second Amendment, that thing, I don’t think it means what you think it means. This read may help.
“The Second Amendment: A Biography “by Michael Waldman
Whatever one’s feelings and or interpretation of the 2nd Amendment may be, one thing is for sure and for certain, there are far too many guns in this nation and they are far to easy to be obtained by those who have no business whatsoever in using them…
Personally, I am looking forward to when those who love and worship at the altar of all things firearms will love their children and their fellow citizens with the same zeal and passion they exhibit for their guns…