KEEPING & BEARING (ONLY)

(The following appeared as a Letter to the Editor of the Richmond  [VA] Times-Dispatch on Monday, May 6, 2013.)

Donald W. Bartlett of New Kent (April 29) takes President Obama and Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to task for their support of the gun-control bill that failed to proceed because of a failed cloture vote (not "filibuster").  In his letter, Mr. Bartlett declares that they have failed to honor their oaths to "uphold and defend" the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which declares that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Mr. Bartlett further states that the Constitution prohibits interference with one's "right to own whatever arms they see fit to protect themselves...."

I have never read the bill that failed to pass, but I assumed it dealt with regulation of gun sales and purchases only.  The Second Amendment does not protect any right to "buy" or "sell" arms.  No such right exists.  The word "own" does not appear in the Second Amendment either.  It only protects a right to "keep and bear arms" already owned.  There is nothing in the US Constitution that prohibits the Congress or the states from regulating the purchase or sale of arms and ammunition as desired, or even banning the same altogether.

Both proponents and opponents of "gun control" have ignored this distinction.