I'll be the first to admit that I did not purchase my guns for hunting or target practice. I own them for self-defense and to ensure I am able to protect those close to me who cannot fend for themselves.
The right of free people to self-defense is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, which was written to reinforce the essential principle that the powers of the new federal government against its citizens must be limited.
The drafters of the Constitution understood clearly that through the course of history, unchecked power leads to eventual rule by tyrants answerable to no one, with power concentrated in the hands of a chosen few.
In addition, the Constitution was written to be consistent with natural law theory that basic rights that arise solely from the fact that we are living, thinking human beings, like the right to self-defense, must be protected.
Laws by themselves do not eradicate crime; if that were true, the Newtown massacre would have never happened since the man responsible broke numerous existing laws before even entering the school. Further gun-control laws will be ignored by a similarly determined madman.
It may be true that people supporting the Second Amendment see it as a line that can never be crossed. It is essential to prevent the unchecked intrusion of government into the rights and liberty of free citizens.
The real tragedy is that most Americans do not realize the imminent threat to liberty from overambitious and manipulative politicians.
TIM CONNOLLY
Schenectady