Support Assault Weapons Ban

To the editor:

A bill now before the U. S. House of Representatives, HR 1808, will make it illegal for private individuals to import, sell, manufacture, or transfer semi-automatic weapons. This bill, called an “assault-weapons ban,” is being vigorously opposed by gun rights advocates.

There are a number of reasons to SUPPORT this bill.

• If it is enforced (which is not certain) it will make it significantly more difficult for potential school shooters and others to obtain weapons capable of inflicting many murders in a very short time.

• Since the Constitution was adopted in 1783 the population of the United States has increased from about 5 million to over 300 million. This sixty fold increase in population density has made necessary many adaptations and changes in our laws, our institutions, our society, and the inter-pretation of the Constitution.

• When the Constitution was written, the arms which citizens could bear did not include semiautomatic weapons. The Second Amendment applied only to the types of arms which existed in 1783. A literal detailed interpretation of the Second Amendment is that it guarantees the rights of citizens to bear rifles, pistols and shotguns which in those days only had limited capacity magazines. The proposed bill does not apply to any of these arms. The Second Amendment has never been interpreted to guarantee the right of individuals to own cannons.

• Defending individual liberties against restrictions imposed by the Federal Government does not depend in any way on the public availability of semi-automatic weapons. These weapons have only two uses: (1) use by demented individuals to commit multiple murders, and (2) recreational obliteration of targets and wildlife. Restricting public availability of these weapons is quite likely (though not guaranteed) to reduce mass shootings.

This is a very important issue. Please communicate promptly with your Congressional representatives to tell them that you support this bill.

Here is contact info for our Congressional representatives:

Representative Michael McCaul

Phone:512 473-2257

Senator Ted Cruz:

Phone: 202 224-5922

Senator John Cornyn

Phone : 202 224-2934 A short one-sentence mes

A short one-sentence message indicating that you support HR 1808 is all that is necessary. There is no need to give supporting reasons for your position. Be sure to include your name and residence location.

Arnold Romberg

La Grange