Guns: No need to fear regulation

The NRA's reign of terror must stop. As a lobby, they have inflamed with public over the right to any type of weapon. We have the right to be armed as a militia, but assault weapons are meant for a trained militia, like the National Guard, not the average citizen.

A vote for a politician who gets money from gun lobbies is a vote to continue to endorse the kind of weapons terrorism that has become commonplace in this country. The notion that when "guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" needs to be set aside as another one of the falsehoods spread by the NRA.

Gun registration and licensing is a way to handle our current problem and keep guns out of the hands of those who are apt to abuse them. We should use the model we had of state liquor stores. State gun stores would be limited in number and linked with police and mental health professionals to stop sales to those who should not own guns. Just as driving is re-assessed periodically, so should the license to own a weapon. The safe and sane homeowners and hunters need not fear this sort of regulation.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Guns: No need to fear regulation."