Founders would today curb 2nd Amendment
When our Founding Fathers provided in the Constitution that Americans, having just battled British tyranny, should have the right to bear arms, they wanted guns for militias. Hunting with rifles had always been a legitimate right. If the Founding Fathers could only see what is happening today, they would have sharply curtailed the Second Amendment. The NRA, controlled by gun manufacturers, has policies that are about selling more guns. They argue we need to be able to defend ourselves against bad guys. Yet only 2.5 percent of gun deaths are from justifiable homicides. Sixty-four percent of guns deaths are from suicide. There are more guns than people in the United States. More guns translate to more unjustifiable deaths. Arming teachers would create more gun deaths than not arming them. Spend the money on school psychologists or efforts to nurture kids. Gun control would save lives; it is just common sense.
JOHN SHACKLETON, ATLANTA
Ga. GOP’s support for NRA will draw backlash
I consider myself a lifelong Republican fiscal conservative. The GOP’s overwhelming support for the NRA in its vote against Delta will trigger a major backlash. Support for the NRA aligns the GOP with what the NRA’s stated positions are – not those of the electorate or the president, nationwide or in Georgia. Expanded background checks (to cover) online or gun show purchases and mental illness: 94 percent of Americans are for them; the NRA is against. The NRA solution to mass shootings is to arm school teachers. Twenty percent of the public agrees; 80 percent does not. The NRA is an accessory to mass murders. The Georgia GOP takes money from them, and so then are they. This is not us. Time to drain this swamp via social media. Do away with the NRA.
DAN SMITH, ALPHARETTA
