Legal parallels

Regarding “Every gun is a deadly assault weapon” (Page A13, July 2), the author makes a valid point about the role all guns play in the continuing slaughter of Americans. The answer to the problem is more and stricter control of firearms and who owns them.

Opponents of stricter controls use the wellworn phrase that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. You can make the same claim about cars: Cars don’t have wrecks or kill people, people have wrecks and kill people. But without restrictions on cars and drivers, imagine the carnage we would experience.

Drivers of automobiles are required to get a driver’s license issued by the state after passing tests, both written and behind the wheel. There are age restrictions on drivers. The car owner must also purchase insurance to cover damage to other cars and injuries to other drivers. Cars must be registered and licensed and be inspected on a yearly basis for safety.

Laws govern the operation of cars, regulating speed limits and reckless driving practices. And while those measures do not stop wrecks, driving without these restrictionswould be more perilous than most would tolerate.

Before he died, conservative Supreme Court Associate Justice Justice Antonin Scalia wrote an opinion in the Heller case stating that while the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens’ rights to own guns, the state may enact reasonable restrictions on guns, particularly those that he called “dangerous and unusual.” There should be be a legal system for guns and gun owners at least as restrictive as to cars and drivers. Wayne Neumann, Richmond