A recent letter to the editor has broached the subject of gun ownership and responsibility.

Following is my suggestion to resolve the dilemma: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Of course, rarely do you read this entire Second Amendment to the Constitution – probably because “the right to bear arms” is hooked directly to a “well regulated militia.”

In other words, the country needed its citizens armed to defend against outside incursion. That was 1776, when we had no formal military organization and so it was obvious that the country would have to be defended collectively by each citizen.

Fast forward to 2016, wherein we now have enough military might to blow up the world a thousand times over. And there are now the same number of guns as there are people in the United States.

Therefore, we should worry not about gun ownership, but about gun responsibility, so that every gun owner could be a member of the militia. Since just about a third of the people in our country own guns, we would end up with a militia of 100 million.

The rules would be simple. Gun owners who have served in the military would have automatic militia membership, with no further training required; same for the police.

Everyone else would attend militia training, conducted at any Army or Marine base for a period of eight weeks, bringing their own weapon(s) and ammunition.

Upon graduation, each person would be classified “1-A” in any future draft or civilian call-up. The National Rifle Association would be satisfied, and the Founding Fathers vindicated!

Gene Youtz

New Harbor