Lawrence Goldman

Imagine this scene: Some of the Founding Fathers are sitting around the barbecue drinking wine and beer and eating chicken wings while some civilian is giving them a demonstration of the firepower of the AR-15. Next up is the M107 .50 caliber sniper's rifle, and it is destroying targets at over a mile away. Then they get the Uzi 9 mm submachine gun, which can fire 600 rounds per minute.

Are they impressed? You betcha! They would all probably keel over and drop dead of a heart attack upon hearing that any American citizen who has not committed a serious crime can own one of these weapons legally and those with criminal records could acquire them through the black/gray market.

Bracey off base on gun control bills (letter)

The population of the United States at the time the Constitution was ratified was approximately 2.5 million people. Today, America has 300 million people and the Second Amendment is still set in stone. If you can look at the Second Amendment in the spirit of which it was intended, many of us might change our perception of it.

Back then, when the Founding Fathers were alive, weapons technology had reached the "muzzle-loading smooth bore musket" level for personal protection. I'd be fine if everyone owned one of those. How could anyone have foreseen the advances in weapons technology over the course of the next 240 years? No one could, but there was a lot of money to be made, so the interpretation of the Second Amendment has been consistently wrong by administrations, Congress and Supreme Courts for almost two and a half centuries. It's time we got it right, and on behalf of Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame, who coined the famous line "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," I'm here to tell you how it should be.

"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." Now, to anyone with half a brain, this line should be interpreted as that the only people who should own weapons are those who participate in formal state-regulated militias like the Pennsylvania State Guard. Do you think that this is what the Founding Fathers had in mind? Well, duh.

Formally trained people are the only ones who should own firearms (like those who participate in the Pennsylvania Guard). Anyone who believes that their weapon is going to protect their home from criminals is living a TV fantasy. The vast majority of civilians will freeze the moment they are faced with a dangerous situation. Those people who are walking around with concealed carry permits are just plain ignorant. They will be slow on the draw and dead before their weapon even leaves its hiding place.

Mayor Bracey asks York to #WearOrange

For anyone to be able to go up to the counter and buy a weapon is just plain wrong, but this has been going on for so long in our country that it will not change anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, I love firearms. Anyone who has felt the power by looking down the sight of a weapon cannot help themselves. I have owned my share of weapons too, but once again, "The needs of the many..."

It's all about the money. If weapons didn't "trickle down" to the criminal class in this country, all the firearms manufacturers would have to close their factories because I mean, really, how many do you need to make? The legal market is only so big. Their closings would lead to unemployment and you won't last long as president or member of Congress if there is high unemployment.

The NRA is fond of disseminating the big lie that the government wants to take away your weapons and therefore control you. The Pennsylvania Guard is our protector against the federal government, and that is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they incorporated the Second Amendment into the Constitution and not the proliferation of weapons that exists in our society today.

Lawrence Goldman

York Township