Dear Editor,

Legal, law-abiding American firearms owners have about 300 million guns and an estimated several billion rounds of ammunition. We are not to blame for American violence. Instead, blame excess and illegal immigration, multiculturalism, political correctness, bans on God and Jesus, excessive TV violence and excessive welfare, all provided by Democrats.  The consequences and results were predictable, as a result Democrats are demanding restrictions, or elimination of the Second Amendment right to possess and carry firearms.

The militia referred to in the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights in the U.S Constitution is the American public. The numerous statements made by America’s founding fathers are clear that they believed the public should be armed to prevent foreign invasion or government tyranny as a last resort. They would have referred to a group such as the National Guard as a “Select Militia.” Stating that a militia should be well-regulated is not a requirement that removes the right to exist from a militia, if it ceases to be well-regulated as is the current status.

Some misinformed individuals are of the opinion that the National Guard has replaced the militia. The National Guard cannot be the militia referenced by America’s founding fathers, because they are under the direct control of the President and Congress. If the National Guard were all deployed overseas, much of the security necessary to protect the American homeland would rest upon the shoulders of police officers and the 70 million American firearms owners in the Citizens Militia, 5 million of which are NRA (National Rifle Association) members. So, if you are 16 years old or more, you are part of the militia based upon the perspective of America’s founding fathers although it originally applied only to males.

Some argue that since only muzzle loading single shot firearms were available in 1791 when the Bill of Rights became part of the U.S. Constitution, that the Second Amendment does not protect modern semi-automatic firearms. If this flawed line of thinking was correct, it would mean that the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and the press does not protect telephones, TV, radio, internet, fax machines, typewriters, computers, or modern high speed printing presses, since they had not been invented in 1791.

Guns are not the problem. The problem is hearts without God, homes without discipline, schools without prayer and courts without justice.

James King

Albany