Their distemper-induced demands are particularly odious when regarded against the recent attempt at a mass shooting at a school in Decatur, Ga., attended by 800 students ranging from prekindergarten to fifth grade. In this incident, the perpetrator was armed with an assault rifle and admitted that he intended to enact a killing orgy and then take his own life.

Thank God that a school bookkeeper had the communication skills to talk the shooter through his angst and finally convince him to yield his weapons.

This incident once again raises the issue of whether the Second Amendment provides open permission for residents to possess any firearm they choose to purchase – including simulated assault rifles with extended-capacity magazines.

Those who interpolate volumes into what today is an ambiguously phrased entitlement (the “right to keep and bear arms”) need an elementary lesson in etymology.

When the Second Amendment was written, the verb “to bear” meant “to carry in a visible manner.” On this basis, I have to ask of Colorado’s NRA wackos: Do you really think the Second Amendment gives you a right “to bear” assault rifles? I then would follow the above question with: Given the intended sense of “bear” in the Second Amendment, you think it’s OK for you to walk around in public “bearing” an assault rifle?

To anyone who would answer “yes,” I’d extend the caution: Just don’t let me get within arm’s length of you!

Tom Wright

Aztec