Congress is considering legislation which would require a one-week waiting period for individuals who desire to purchase a gun. This legislation abridges a constitutionally guaranteed civil right, and ignores more effective alternatives.

The emphasis of the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments to the Constitution lies in the protection of individually enjoyed civil rights.

If the right to privacy found in the Fourth Amendment can be extended to finding a right to an abortion, even though abortion is not specifically mentioned, surely the right to gun ownership should not be denied, considering the Second Amendment’s language, though ambiguous, guarantees the right.

The legitimate means of redress for those who are ideologically opposed to gun ownership and possession rests within the Constitution itself; they should seek an amendment which takes away this right.

The context of the preservation of inalienable rights, summarized in the Declaration of Independence, includes the right of resistance to tyrannical government. Since many states required all able-bodied males be members of the militias, one may infer that protection of the state was dependent upon individual gun ownership, thus the wording of the Second Amendment does not take away the individual right, but reinforces it.

The right of self-defense is a corollary to the right to life. To deprive citizens from access to the most effective form of self-defense makes them unnecessarily vulnerable to stronger or armed criminals.

One must further consider that otherwise law-abiding citizens, finding themselves in a threatening situation, may turn to black market sources for their guns. Thus, we will inadvertently provide organized crime and street gangs with another source of power and income, while the rest of us will be made more vulnerable to them.

A solution exists which can protect both our Second Amendment rights and the public, however. A national data-base of known criminals can be established so that law enforcement organizations and gun dealers can identify them as quickly as you can get your credit card disapproved.

Given the turmoil Americans have suffered to secure our other civil rights, this would be inexpensive. Most states, including Illinois, already possess this database. This is the legislation Congress should consider.

Michael Murvihill

Student-at-large