Gun rights

Regarding “Don’t paint firearm-rights advocates with a broad brush” (Page A15, Wednesday), the author says he cares about lives lost in school shootings, yet also cares about his gun rights. He asks us to respect the “right to defend ourselves.” He never defines gun rights, however. But in everyday conversations gun rights are seldom defined, remaining an unfettered abstraction we use while talking past each other in the dialogue over gun law reform. Those abstractions would evaporate if our discussions revolved around what gun rights are actually specified in the Constitution.

The Second Amendment right defined by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision is quite specific. It applies only to possession of a handgun within the home for self-defense. The decision explicitly states “the Second Amendment right … is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

Since Heller and the related 2010 McDonald decision, the Supreme Court has let stand state laws banning assaultready rifles and highcapacity ammunition magazines, as well as laws mandating a waiting period for gun purchases.

Many gun owners who support gun law reforms recognize restricting civilian access to assault ready rifles and highcapacity ammunition magazines does not hinder their role in defending their home, nor, for that matter, hunting skills requiring only a few bullets to bring down game.

One can respect the right stipulated in Heller and also support comprehensive gun control legislation. Frederic Decker, Bowie, Md.