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The vast majority of Americans continue to be sickened not only by mass shootings but also by the failure of politicians to do anything about them (Maryland lawmakers must act swiftly and smartly on gun safety, March 29). Many of us are especially angry when military assault-type weapons are used, weapons that can slaughter large numbers of people quickly. Many combat veterans say civilians should not be allowed to own such weapons, much less take them out on the street. Large-capacity magazines and the supersonic velocity of the bullets make those weapons unusually deadly. They dont just make small holes in the body. They utterly destroy flesh, bones and organs, leaving exit wounds the size of grapefruits. Parents couldnt even recognize their own children when they were killed by such weapons in previous school shootings.

The Supreme Courts 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision disconnected the right to keep and bear arms from service in a militia. The gun lobby and the far right have run with that idea ever since. In the opinions of many legal scholars, including conservative jurists, the Supreme Courts ruling introduced a dangerously erroneous interpretation of the Second Amendment. Some states have used that interpretation to mean any Tom, Dick or Harriet who wants to own an assault-style weapon should be able to have one, even carry it openly in the street.

Even conservative Antonin Scalia who wrote the majority opinion went out of his way to reassert that there are limits to gun ownership. In addition to reaffirming the right to keep a gun for home defense, hunting and sports, Scalia also added this to the courts decision: Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

Years earlier, Chief Justice Warren Burger argued there clearly was a connection with maintaining state militias and that certain people had distorted the meaning of the Second Amendment. In a 1991 PBS interview, Burger stated the latter view was one of the greatest pieces of fraud I repeat the word, fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Using a more sensible interpretation of the Second Amendment, anyone who wants to be a modern-day Minuteman, who truly wants to help with the security of a free State, is free to enlist in the National Guard where they will be trained to use military assault weapons in emergencies. Meanwhile, most Americans continue to believe such weapons should be kept out of civilian hands.

Paul Totaro, Bel Air

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Unfettered access to guns is killing us, and yet we allow it to ... - Baltimore Sun