Second Amendment Shouldn’t Need Defense
It is disheartening for those of us who believe that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is just as important as the First to be forced to defend it every time there’s a murder or fatal accident with a firearm. I refer to the “plea” for handgun control by Rod and Lois Briggs (Letters, Sept. 2).
The Briggs’ reading of the Second Amendment is that the people are allowed to have firearms only to support militias. James Madison, however, saw the state militias as a way to give the people’s right to keep and bear arms maximum effect.
The fact that we do not at present live under tyranny is no reason to relax our vigilance because would-be tyrants are everywhere, willing to take advantage of a people who have given up the means to defend their liberties.
BOB BECKETT
Fountain Valley
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