Albuquerque Journal

Retired Marine: Repeal the Second Amendment

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I THINK that there are good and honest men and women within the Democratic and Republican caucuses of the House and Senate who could come together to address the shameful profiteeri­ng by gun manufactur­ers in America at the cost of the lives of her children and innocent people of all ages. I will not see the repeal of the Second Amendment to the Constituti­on in my lifetime. This is a tragedy. But it is important to at least try to tell the truth.

Our founding fathers, with their single-shot, flint-lock muskets and pistols, never envisioned an AR-15 rifle. I am sure that they would have been astonished by its power, accuracy and firing rate; in effect, by its deadliness and danger to the public. I cannot logically understand why we should have a sacred right to own and use this murderous weapon of war but not have a constituti­onal right to “bear” and use a shoulderfi­red grenade-launcher capable of destroying a car, or a shoulder-fired, light anti-tank rocket-launcher capable of destroying a small house.

I understand that there are Americans who are ardent and even fanatical with regard to their right to own and use weapons of war. I suspect that the majority of these people never volunteere­d to serve in the military in time of war, or actively evaded that service when it was still legally required of them. But to those other less-committed gun owners who say they use these weapons for “recreation,” please give them up. Weapons of war should not be considered “sporting goods” and they’re not “recreation­al.”

Repeal the Second Amendment.

DR. R.J. BREWER U.S.M.C. (Ret.) 1969-1972 Albuquerqu­e

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