The June 15 letter from David Mills regarding the Second Amendment is incomplete and thus potentially misleading.

Constitutional scholars and the U.S. Supreme Court have concluded that the Second Amendment refers to an individual’s right, unrelated to regulated militias, to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. The Supreme Court in 2008 ruled that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in 2010 that the 14th Amendment incorporates this right as a right to keep and bear arms as protected in the Privileged and Immunities Clause.

Section 16 of the Constitution of Maine states that every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms, something conveniently ignored by Mills. It is a strange leap of reasoning to conclude that this right has somehow led to the deaths of thousands of Americans.

Mills ignores the writings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Federalist Papers for his interpretation of history.

When a unfit driver causes death, it is grotesque to blame the vehicle, with more than 300,000 men, women and children dying in the past 10 years in the U.S. from vehicle crashes.

Maine has high firearm ownership and low firearm deaths, a tribute to our common sense.

Robert Martin

New Sharon


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