To the editor:

In response to Susan Estrich’s excellent article on guns in the U.S. (“Time to curb the culture of gun violence”), I’d like to add one more fact. Gun lovers always trot out the seemingly sacrosanct Second Amendment while defending their right to possess guns (of course they totally forget about the part of the amendment requiring that said guns be part of a well-regulated militia, but who’s counting? Obviously, no one).

However, if we look back a bit further into this country’s history, we find this line in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is every citizen’s right to have life, freedom and the ability to seek out happiness. We cannot do that knowing that any idiot on the street can buy an AK-47 or other high-powered killing machine. With our current laws, it’s basically “tough @#$%” for all the rest of us. Gun owners get their rights, and the rest of us are relegated to the position of mere targets.

I would like to suggest to all of our legislators that they think about the 80-plus percent of Americans who want stronger gun laws and laws banning the sale of semi-automatic weapons. This would be a great start to a safer society.

Meredith Porter,

Lawrence