Support Gun Rights

To The Editor:Indeed, H.R. 1808 has made it out of the Judiciary Committee and could be brought to the floor for a House vote soon. As someone in the firearms industry, as a father, as a husband and as a lawabiding citizen, I ask for your support of all our God-given rights and the Second Amendment inparticular.According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, there are now more modern sporting rifles in circulation than Ford F-Series trucks on the road; 24,446,000 MSRs to be precise. “This is a truly significant figure that demonstrates — again — the popularity of this commonly owned style of rifle,” said NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi.

Of these, 8.5% are used for hunting, 24.3% are used for Target Shooting and 67.2% are used for personal defense, according to a survey performed by the NSSF in May 2020. Additionally, of the millions of first-time buyers entering the market in 2020, 40.1% were women. For a woman in a self-defense situation, a firearm isthe great equalizer.A quick point about the two above; the referenced statistics are for lawful purchases of firearms.

All this commerce has a significant economic impact. In 2019, John Dunham & Associates, estimated the impact of banning MSRs and Semi-Auto Shotguns at 38,466 lost jobs, resulting in $1,834,062,400 of lost wages, $5,602,440,600 in lost output which would create a$385,761,200 deficit for Federal Business Taxes, $295,002,700 for State Business Taxes and $122,481,300 Pittman-Robinson Excise Tax (funds used for wildlife conservation.) At current volumes, this is now an under estimation.

Putting the points above aside, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, in the majority opinion, Justice Scalia wrote: “Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous, that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment. We do not interpret constitutional rights that way. Just as the First Amendment protects modern forms of communications, e.g., Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U. S. 844, 849 (1997), and the Fourth Amendment applies to modern forms of search, e.g., Kyllo v. United States, 533 U. S. 27, 35–36 (2001), the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.”

At the battle of Thermopylae, it was Leonidas’ courage and moral fortitude that saved the land that later gave birth to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. How different would “The West” be today if these great thinkers did not exist? I implore you to be the sheep dog; support all our God-given rights and reject moral relativism.

Zack Ezer La Grange