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Letter: We have the power to regulate arms

(Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | The Associated Press) In this March 24, 2018, photo, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, from Florida's 10th congressional district, responds to demonstrators during a rally in downtown Orlando, Fla., as a part of the nationwide protest against gun violence across the U.S. They have walked out, marched and demanded action across America to stop gun violence. But it's far from certain that the young people behind the "March for Our Lives" movement will be a political force at the ballot box this fall.

The pro-gun folks focus their Second Amendment claims on the phrase “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” and seem to downplay the rest. But there is another phrase in the Second Amendment with equal importance: “well regulated.” That is the phrase that gives us, the people, the power to regulate the arms for the general welfare of We the People.

The Florida kids leading the March for Our Lives don’t want to eliminate the right to keep and bear arms, just regulate the arms. The safe schools and safe society people just want to regulate the type of guns available to non-military citizens, regulate who is entitled to buy and possess guns and regulate the type and size of magazines carrying the bullets.

It’s time to support research on the effect of gun violence on society, stop restricting the ATF from doing their necessary job today, eliminate the protection against lawsuit on gun manufacturers and sellers, and institute universal background checks on all gun sales everywhere. You can still own guns, just under Second Amendment regulation! Tell our folks in Congress!

L. Cameron Mosher, Holladay