Letter: Bearing arms is a right, not a privilege

Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007 | 7:47 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun's Feb. 2 editorial, "Loophole in gun sales":

The Second Amendment to our Constitution, as the other amendments in our Bill of Rights, enumerates "rights," not privileges. Just as the Las Vegas Sun enjoys the freedom of the press as outlined in the First Amendment, all citizens, individually, have the inalienable right to bear arms. The Second Amendment states unequivocally that this right "shall not be infringed."

The proposal that the Sun espouses, to require all firearm transfers be routed through a federally licensed individual, does, indeed, infringe on the rights of the people. Additionally, nothing would be solved by implementation of such an onerous requirement. Straw man purchases are already outlawed.

It is irrational to burden law-abiding citizens with another impediment to the exercise of their rights. Those who are criminal, by their very nature, break laws. Why would one expect that instituting another law would be a hindrance to them?

The idea that I would have to go to a federally licensed individual to give my son a shotgun, and pay his and the government's fees to do so, strikes at the very heart of our Western culture. Just as it would be unconscionable if someone had to go through a government-authorized newsstand to buy your Las Vegas Sun, so it also would be for privately owned firearms.

Michael S. Lussem, Las Vegas