Gun rights have actually been ‘liberalized’

Editor:

I would like to comment on John Matuszczak’s letter in the May 28 paper. In it he expresses concern about the erosion of Second Amendment gun rights. I would like to point out that, if anything, gun rights have, over time, actually been liberalized. For example, assault weapons were illegal to own until 2003. Concealed carry was a hodgepodge in Colorado until 2004 when it became liberalized and standardized. It seems to me that what Mr. Matuszczak finds objectionable is nothing more than an attempt at reasonable regulation. Not one of the proposed regulations limits a mentally stable adult, in good legal standing, from making a gun purchase.

One only has to ask how many times has a child gotten a hold of a parent's gun or an unstable individual gotten a hold of a weapon and committed mass murder? Hopefully, with proper regulation, we can preserve First Amendment rights and at the same time reduce the number of mass murders. 

Finally in the last paragraph he compares abortions in Colorado to the number of gun killings. I fail to see a comparison to a woman making a very personal decision regarding her own body to a child, or anyone else for that matter, who makes no decision to be murdered. 

Charles Welch

Gunnison