Letter writer J. Luis Banos is correct. House Bill 131 fails the common sense test, as do all laws aimed at reducing gun violence.
The one exception to this rule would be a law to ban private citizens from possessing a gun and strict enforcement of such a law. The problem is the Constitution.
To fix this problem would require a constitutional amendment. The problem is crystal clear: Too many guns. The solution is clear: Ban guns. Amend the Constitution.
Why is it that no one is proposing this solution? It would have a snowball's chance of passing. On second thought, I’m not sure banning guns would eliminate violent mass murder. There’s an unlimited number of ways that one could use to commit mass murder.
Quite a few alternative methods have been used, such as driving a big truck through a crowd of people, flying an airplane into a tall office building, loading a rental truck with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, setting fire to a building full of people. You get the point.
The bottom line is that we probably have enough laws on the books now. We just need to do a much better job of enforcing the laws on the books and lock up crazy, potentially violent folks “for their own protection.”
And what’s the chance of that happening? None. We let them roam free to attack folks on the subway and arrest the ones who stop them.
Crazy? Yes. I am a law-abiding citizen, retired military, never been arrested homeowner, taxpayer, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, voter and gun owner.
JOSEPH T. SMITH
Baton Rouge