To the Editor:
Re “Congress,
Up in Arms,” by Gail Collins (column, May 6):
Once again,
Congress is being intimidated by the political power of gun advocates
across the country. This bloc of people believes that giving any ground
to gun control is a slippery slope that may jeopardize their Second
Amendment rights.
Both Congress and gun advocates are dead wrong
in their assessment. There are millions of Americans, like me, who
believe in the right to bear arms. And yet many of us are deeply
concerned that deadly weapons can be obtained by ultraradicals, the
mentally ill, felons and terrorists.
Gun advocates had better be
reasonable and responsive about exceptions to gun ownership. They should
cooperate and endorse proposals that make us safer even if these
measures take guns out of the hands of certain people (deemed to be a
threat). The alternative could lead to a backlash and an eventual
assault on the Second Amendment.
Salvatore J. Bommarito
New York, May 6, 2010
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 