The Boulder assault weapons ban is a great start; but, it doesn’t go far enough. All guns must be banned. I spoke in support of gun control in front of Boulder and Longmont city councils. At every meeting, I heard sociopaths repeat the same lies about self-defense, the Second Amendment and the mentally ill. The Second Amendment opens with, ” A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State …” That’s a false premise, because a well- regulated militia isn’t necessary today. In fact, we have a well-regulated militia and it is called the National Guard. School children keep being murdered at ever-increasing numbers thanks to a proliferation of ever-more-powerful guns. Practical solutions to this epidemic of gun violence have failed thanks to the NRA and Republican Party. The time for incremental steps toward gun control is over. It is time to repeal the Second Amendment.

After every mass shooting, the NRA and its lackeys continue their baseless stigmatization of mental illness. In fact, only 1 percent of all gun homicides in the U.S. from 1999 through 2015 were committed by people with mental illness. Actual home-defense incidents using firearms are so rare they are statistically insignificant. Their is a much higher incidence of domestic violence murder, suicide, accidental death and theft of firearms. Supporting the Second Amendment weakens other amendments. When pro-gun protestors showed up in Boulder brandishing their AR-15s, they were using the threat of violence enabled by the Second Amendment to chill the free speech of others. When Parkland students protested they were threatened with suspensions, which was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Extreme positions on one set of rights results in trading away other rights.

We do not need a well-regulated militia to have a free society. We need fewer guns.

Andrew J. O’Connor

Lafayette