Guns: Legitimate buyers not affected

Re: “We need more people packing heat” (letter, 1-11).

Reading this letter set me to wondering what it is that people fail to grasp. A background check isn’t going to separate anyone from his or her gun. What it is designed to do is keep those pesky “mad dogs” from getting a firearm and needing to be “put down” (perhaps though a service to society).

The more we’re able to keep guns away from convicted felons, people under restraining orders, gang bangers or other assorted community failures the better.

The big problem with this is that far too many people seem to think that the Constitution of the United States consists only of the Second Amendment. There is just a bit more involved there.

Can any of these folks show how this will prevent one honest, qualified person from obtaining a firearm?

Can any of these folks who subscribe to the idea that somehow a background check will take away guns tell me of any amendment to the Constitution that is unlimited? After all, Justice Antonin Scalia, probably the most conservative justice now sitting, in his opinion concerning whether the Second Amendment was a personal right also stated it has “reasonable limitations.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Guns: Legitimate buyers not affected."