Platform : ‘The Right to Bear Arms Is Outdated’

CELIA HAMEL

Film industry worker, 30, Monterey Park

I really don’t think most Americans would have a problem banning guns. However, given the extraordinary power the (National Rifle Assn.) has, banning guns is right up there with trying to find a cure for cancer. In any event, I believe a comprehensive gun ban is our only option. In other countries, such as England, where guns are against the law, murders by guns are minuscule when compared to our own country. And while guns can be had through the various black markets, nevertheless, they are hard enough to get so that most citizens have no desire to own them.

In addition, the constitutional right to bear arms is an outdated right. Like the right to own slaves, this so-called right has no bearing in our modern times. It makes no sense that an amendment that was written more than 200 years ago would apply to 1993. And while the NRA and gun advocates would insist that every American has a right to bear arms, the sad fact is that most Americans use these weapons on themselves, their families, neighbors and innocent people, and not a supposed foreign force. Civilized people don’t need guns. They serve no purpose but to destroy and painfully disrupt our lives. Ban them all.