Time to get serious about regulating gun ownership
Is anyone else tired? I am. Including the murder of 8 people in Georgia spas on March 16, there have been 45 mass shootings—defined as shootings in which 4 or more people were killed or injured—in the United States. Whoops. Make that 46; since I started writing this letter on April 18, I learned of the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that killed three and wounded two. And that’s only the headline grabbers.
Since Jan. 1, 2021, the United States has had 7,128 suicides by gun and 5,502 homicides by gun; 9,940 people have been injured in gun violence.
The Declaration of Independence states that …”Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…” are inalienable rights. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
To maintain a well-regulated militia—the purpose of the Second Amendment— 22,570 people in the United States have been deprived of their inalienable rights to life or to the pursuit of happiness in 2021.
So, let’s support the second amendment and the intention of our founding fathers. There are too many guns in the United States to limit them to a well-regulated militia; practically, that part of the Second Amendment must be ignored.
We are left, then, with well-regulated gun ownership. If you need a license to practice such dangerous professions as hair styling or manicuring, why don’t you need a license to own a gun? You
need to pass a test to drive a car; why don’t you need one to own a gun?
“Thoughts are prayers” aren’t enough.
It’s time to get serious and honor the founding documents of this country.
Barbara Tylka
Bozeman
Business owners unhappy with concealed carry law
Gov. Gianforte received the national ‘Guardian of Small Business Award’ last year. This year he made it legal to carry a concealed weapon in any business that doesn’t specifically prohibit guns. No
peskier vetting or training required. And who will now be carrying concealed under the new law? Those too stupid to pass the simple test or whose Second Amendment chip on their shoulder is all the “permit” they need, you say? You’d be right. But hey, if you own a handgun, you are automatically a “good guy with a gun” right, Greg? And if a small business owner does not want guns in their shop (which is their right, like refusing to bake cakes for gays) they just put up a sign, right? Let’s ask Matt Kelley how that worked out for masks and in-your-face outrage from “patriots.”
So, if you and your customers don’t want to shop shoulder to shoulder with Yosemite Sam, what to do if someone brings their gun into the shop? The Gallatin County Sheriff’s office (I kid you not) has these helpful suggestions for business owners averse to pistol packing patrons: 1. Put up a No Guns sign. 2. If a pistol-packer won’t leave, call the police while the unhappy customer with the loaded gun listens. 3. Buy your own gun (and be ready to use it). 4. Cross your fingers.
From Montana’s small business owners: Thanks, Greg! This should work out well.
Kent Madin
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 4/27/21