To the Editor:
I’m a retired, wounded, and decorated army veteran who was raised during the Great Depression , served overseas in an infantry division in World War II, made the Inchon D-Day landing with the 1st Mar Div in the Korean War, was in the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, and also served in NATO in the Middle East. As a rational, intelligent approach to our national gun dilemma we should consider the following:
It’s a paradox of our society that a small (3 million) vocal/active minority — the gun lobby — have held such power over the large silent/passive majority (300 million) — the American public, including the Congress — for so many years.
The vast majority of the U.S. population disagree with the Supreme Court’s recent biased interpretation the Constitutional intent of the vague 2nd Amendment — which was written at a time when the country was a subsistence economy dependent on hunting with flintlock muskets, had no standing army, relied entirely on local militias for safety and security, and in which the possession of individual firearms in the colonies had been banned by the Crown ....
There is no rational justification for the current proliferation of firearms and ammunition in the hand of individuals. Assault-type weapons should be banned, hunters should be limited to bolt action-type rifles, all firearms and ammunition in the hands of individuals should be registered and controlled, and concealed weapons should be prohibited.
The National Rifle Association was, originally, a highly respected organization which focused on hunters with reasonable gun control and was instrumental in training our youth including myself in the junior and senior ROTC, in marksmanship — enhancing our victories on the battlefield. However, in subsequent years, it was taken over by a series of zealots bent on enacting laws promoting the unrestricted availability and ownership of all types of firearms — leading to such tragedies as Virginia Tech, Va., Columbine HS, Colo., Fort Hood, Texas, Aurora, Colo., Newtown, Conn., and many others.
Now is a golden opportunity for our intimidated and passive Congress to introduce remedial legislation as The Charlton Heston Federal Gun Control Act of 2013, to be followed by a subsequent Wayne LaPierre Second Amendment Repeal Act of 2014. This would not only rectify an error in judgment by the Supreme Court but also honor the memory of two of our leading “automatic assault gun in every household” advocates.
Eugene Morath
Alexandria