Dear editor:
When drafted, our Second Amendment was authored by intelligent men recently removed from what they deemed government tyranny. Alas, their only notion of weapons were muskets and cannons.
There is no logical reason for any person outside the military to possess a semi-automatic weapon with clips capable of dozens or more rounds. These are not self-defense or hunting instruments, they are designed only to kill as many people as possible in as short a period of time with as little accuracy as required. If you're using one of these for hunting, you're no sportsman.
So what to do? If you say nothing, you're either delusional or a legislator.
Ban semiautomatics. Period.
A national gun registry. Annually, we assess our property and pay taxes on it. Why not guns? It would not only require one to attest to current ownership but paying a nominal fee that might in a small way go toward a national debt currently above $17 trillion. You could still sell your weapon privately, but that individual would be required to register it in a said time period or face fines and/or punishment.
Universal background checks. Every state the same, fed into a national database for mental health and criminal background scrutiny. If it takes 72 hours or even a week to process, so be it. As to gun shows, same thing. You can buy the weapon, then wait to take possession of it. If you need a gun so bad it's an immediate thing, you need to contact law enforcement.
Punitive laws, including punishment for the above rules and for parents who leave their weapons unguarded and a child younger than 18 uses them in the commission of a crime.
I know all this makes too much common sense (Thomas Payne pun intended) for Trump and Congress, who are already waffling on this issue, simply letting time and anger pass. The other reason I know none of this will be enacted is I looked at the national site and ArkansasMatters.org and saw the appalling amount of money our Washington representatives, such as Sens. Tom Cotton, John Boozman and Congressman Bruce Westerman, accept from the National Rifle Association. Until we stop elected officials such as these from effectively pimping themselves out to the NRA, nothing will get done.
Let's do it at the ballot box in the coming elections.
Casey Alexander
Mount Ida
Editorial on 03/15/2018