Tom Stankosky: Gun control advocates do not want to take away Second Amendment rights

To The Daily Sun,

I am so sick of the ongoing specious argument from gun rights advocates that guns don't kill, people kill and that, as per Richard Littlefield et al, mental health issues cause gun violence. True that guns or any inanimate object on its own cannot kill without human intervention. But it is also true that semi-automatic weapons in the hands of a human can kill more efficiently than would otherwise be possible with the type of guns available at the time of the institution of the Second Amendment. Those who promote these guns rights arguments always imply that gun control advocates want to take away Second Amendment rights. This is not true. They are only seeking common sense controls that would prevent the horrific mass shootings that have occurred in our country but that do not occur in other advanced nations who, I am sure, do not have a lower incidence of mental illness.

Controls such as red flag laws which would tag people with dangerous tendencies or agendas, background checks that would do the same and elimination of access to semi-automatic weapons for non-military use. The average citizen does not need a semi-automatic weapon to hunt or to protect home and property unless that person is being attacked by some animal or huge mob carrying semi-automatic weapons that are, but should not be, available to everyone. My advice to Mr. Littlefield and others of his ilk is to stop spouting their arguments and to work to enact laws that a vast majority of Americans support.

Tom Stankosky

Meredith