Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Quick fixes seldom fix anything; the cry is out there to ban assault weapons in response to the actions of a lone madman. There are over a million known "defined as assault weapons" in the U.S., thousands more unknown, to be sure. Removing these from the public would take decades, if even possible. If you are a gun owner, you may own one and not know it. Read the definition: Many ordinary weapons meet the criteria. Many old guns have large-capacity magazines.

One of the current thoughts is the framers could not have envisioned modern weapons when the Second Amendment was written. They couldn’t, but it doesn’t matter. At the time of our Constitution, a modern military rifle was a flintlock, firing about three rounds a minute. Citizens owned and used the same. For a people to stand up to an oppressive government, which was the intent of the Second Amendment, their weapons need to be fairly equal. Today’s privately owned assault-style weapons are not selectable, the same as our military. The vast numbers of privately owned AR-15s are semi-automatic, not being able to select full automatic. If you don’t know the difference, one pull equals one shot versus one pull equals 30 (machine gun). Some folks do own full automatics, which are very expensive and require federal permission, which is also expensive.

Another suggestion (by the NRA) is to add armed guards, which was quickly poo-pooed by anti-gun advocates and politicians, which begs the question: We can spend hundreds of billions fighting wars where we profit none, but spending nowhere near that to protect our kids is too expensive? How much do you think it would take to convince an owner to give up these weapons?

My point is we cannot stop a madman with gun laws. After all, they are mad and don’t obey the law. But you can protect yourself and our kids legally. Government should take its time and address all the factors that create mass murders such as these, then implement real policies that will actually stand a chance of working.

S.J. Mehaffey

Gloucester, Va.