To the editor:

The news reports from Connecticut indicate that the 26 victims of the shootings at the school were shot with at least one assault weapon using a high-powered bullet that has a devastating effect on flesh and bone. As a former prosecutor and district attorney, I have seen more than my fair share of autopsy photographs illustrating what effect bullets have on the human body. Some of those photographs are seared into my memory. I can’t imagine what the high-powered ammunition used at the school shooting would do to the bodies of 6- and 7-year-old children.

The extreme gun advocates in our midst will predictably argue that this was the solitary act of a madman. That much is true. But it is also true that someone put the assault weapon and high-powered ammunition into circulation. This type of weapon and ammunition has only one purpose: To kill human beings. The country has seen enough of these mass shootings. The distribution of assault weapons and high-powered ammunition must be regulated.

The extreme gun advocates believe that the Constitution affords them the right to the unrestricted access to even the most powerful assault weapons and ammunition. I say this to those people: Go to Connecticut. Sit down with parents of the dead children, and explain to them how your unrestricted access to assault weapons is more important than the lives of their children.