Alex Constantine - April 26, 2010
Letter to Fredericksburg.com | 4/26/2010
Letter-writer Shawn Smart, like most gun fanatics, is reluctant to let historical facts interfere with his agenda ["To be less free? Take away our guns," April 11].
The Nazis did not enact any new gun-control measures until 1938, five years after Hitler came to power, and those were aimed specifically at the Jews.
The gun restrictions Mr. Smart refers to were actually enacted by the Weimar Republic. In 1919, Germany was in a state of anarchy, economic chaos, and revolution. Armed militias of all political factions engaged in street battles, and fear of Bolshevism was rampant.
The 1919 Regulation of the Council of the People's Delegates on Weapons Possession banned the civilian possession of all firearms and ammunition, and demanded their surrender "immediately." Provisions were made for gun ownership by people of "undoubted reliability" who demonstrated a "need" for a gun. ...
Our country's irrational and illogical obsession with guns has enabled the National Rifle Association to become the de facto fourth branch of our government.
There are infringements and abridgements of our "freedoms" made in the causes of public safety, decency, and common sense. If you don't believe this, indulge in child pornography, yell "fire" in a crowd for the purpose of inciting a panic, walk naked around your neighborhood, take a 10-year-old to an R-rated movie, use certain profanities in public, text-message while driving, smoke in a restaurant, or ride a motorcycle without a helmet.
What makes the Second Amendment so sacrosanct?
Stephen Miller
Spotsylvania