Group doesn’t understand U.S. Constitution

In his June 2 letter ('Gun violence requires state and local response”), Jeremy Brigham wrote, 'Iowans for Gun Safety opposes adding a strict-scrutiny gun rights amendment in the Iowa Constitution that would put gun rights equivalent to the right to vote, to travel and to privacy.”

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution already places the rights of private citizens to keep and bear arms on the same level as the rights of speech, press, religion, travel, etc. Now, some Iowa lawmakers are simply trying to bring our state constitution in line with the national one, as at least 45 other states have already done.

You'll notice that many of the rights enumerated in the federal Bill of Rights are lumped together. Our Founding Fathers considered the right to bear arms so vital that they gave it an individual amendment of its own. And it's the only right that they declared 'shall not be infringed.”

Brigham's group has advocated for draconian gun control. Realizing that a name that implies these goals could alienate a large segment of the public, they use the softer sounding title Iowans for Gun Safety.

Dean Varner

Cedar Rapids