Letter: Standing up for our constitutional right

To the Editor:

I want to thank and commend state Rep. Jed Davis for his wisdom and courage in standing up for our constitutional right to bear arms as stated in the Second Amendment. Too many of our elected officials are all too ready to step aside and not fulfill their oath of office … “I do solemnly swear [affirm] that I will support the Constitution of the United States …”

One estimate is that there are 20,000 laws on the books, nationwide, that deal with gun control. Obviously passing a law does not work. There are several hundred million small arms in the United States, so Illinois saying it is illegal for law abiding citizens to own certain types of guns does not equate to the wrong people not getting one of those styles of guns.

The stated goal of the anti-gun group is to limit the arms like the AR-15. One might argue that an AR-15 with a high capacity magazine is too much fire power to be in the hands of the average citizen, but they are “the sorts of bearable arms in common use for lawful purposes” say Second Amendment advocates.

People who argue against our right to bear arms apparently do not understand and appreciate the value of having an armed citizenry. In an increasingly violent world, I think that is a mistake.

Rod Beary

Oswego