Letter: What the Second Amendment means

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, 45,222 people died from gun related injuries and, yes, even one death is too many. That number includes murders, suicides, accidents and law enforcement-involved shootings. Of that number, 19,384 were murders. Three percent of that number, or 581 deaths, where from rifles of any kind and shotguns. The U.S. House passed an assault weapons ban. The type of firearms that function the same as firearms made over 100 years ago and are in common use by law-abiding Americans. The U.S. Constitution states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” The question becomes who are the people? The people are the whole of the population as it is in the First and Fourth Amendments. Meaning the people are the militia. You can’t have people mean one thing in one amendment and another in different amendment.

In addition, some have suggested insurance for owning a gun the same as a car. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Please show me one constitutional right we have to pay for.

Perhaps we should be spending more time determining why people have become so violent rather than the object used for their violence or stopping fentanyl coming from China and across our southern boarder that is killing over 75,000 U.S. citizens per year.

Anthony J. Santinello

Huntley