A Plea to Limit Purchase of Handguns

County residents are aware by now of the senseless murder Aug. 19 of three young men at the store in Tustin where they worked. Our son’s close friend, Russell (Rusty) Williams, was one of the victims. We and the community have suffered a heartbreaking loss by his death.

Their murder by a handgun fired at close range is alleged to have been committed by a former fellow employee at the store, who had earlier borrowed the weapon from another employee and then returned it the same night as the triple slaying. As easy as that. Pull a trigger four times. Three irreplaceable lives ended.

By necessity, the Revolution was fought by volunteers from armed state militias called up by the Continental Congress to secure our independence from an oppressive England. In 1791, when the Bill of Rights was enacted, state militias made up the only standing army the nation could call upon to defend itself. Thus, the Second Amendment specifically coupled the “right to keep and bear arms” with “a well-regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state.”

The founding fathers’ necessity has become our tragic burden. According to statistics, more than 30,000 Americans are killed by guns each year. Such numbers reveal social insanity.

If citizens really want to reduce this slaughter, they should write their lawmakers, particularly local congressmen, expressing their outrage. Ask about their stand on the Brady Bill, HR 467. It mandates a short waiting period before a buyer can purchase a gun.

If America can remove millions of Tylenol bottles from store counters because of seven poisoned users in October, 1982, and at enormous cost one month later require all non-prescription drugs to be in tamper-proof containers, it surely can do something to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of just anybody who wants to own or use a gun. A letter now might save some other young Rusty later.

ROD BRIGGS

LOIS BRIGGS

Seal Beach