Constitution allows citizens to own guns

Joan Marshall's letter in Monday's Gazette led me to believe that like many people, she slept through civics class when she was in school. Obviously she missed the part where they studied the U. S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Had she not missed that class she would know the Second Amendment assures "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." This right recently was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as an "individual right." While, in her opinion, gun ownership might be

"peculiar" and "disgraceful," it is

unquestionably the constitutionally protected right of every law-abiding American.

I am sure Marshall is a good and well-meaning Christian lady who is distressed by deaths and injuries that are reported daily. We all are. What Marshall seldom hears are the many thousands of cases of people who have avoided being raped, robbed or murdered by defending themselves and their loved ones with legally owned firearms.

Most people own guns for self-

defense, sport and target shooting. There are several millions of them. Only a small fraction of gun owners make the evening news, and most of those who do are gangsters, dope dealers and assorted criminals. There already are laws on the books that forbid convicted criminals and mentally unstable people from buying or owning guns.

The framers of the Constitution knew what they were doing. Listen to them; it's the greatest document ever written by man.

Jim Dickson

St. Helena Island