No to gun ban

This letter is in response to Wendy Arquilla’s editorial in the Jan. 26 issue of the Northern Star.

“Guns don’t kill, people do.” She mocks that with an increase in firearm legislation, only criminals would have firearms. Wendy, why doesn’t that make sense? A repeal of the Second Amendment simply disarms the law-abiding citizens and makes them victims of the criminals whether they have guns or baseball bats. Washington D.C. has the highest gun restrictions in the nation and also the highest per capita crime rate. We don’t have a gun problem, we have a societal and judicial problem.

She also speaks of semiautomatic rifles. When Chicago released the 1991 police report of the city’s 927 homicide victims, only two were killed by semiautomatic rifles, 308 were victims of the already heavily restricted handguns, 57 fell victim to kitchen knives. Wendy, should we ban steak knives? The data reveals 77 percent of the offenders and 61 percent of the victims had prior records. Our great nation is in turmoil and many issues must be re-evaluated. However, the Second Amendment is not the problem. The Bill of Rights forms a link in the chain of freedom. Take away one link and the chain is no longer strong.

JONATHAN ADKINS

Engineering

Junior