Letters: It’s past time to ban assault weapons

Ban the sale of assault weapons to the public. If Congress won’t, the Legislature should. Most Americans, including most police chiefs, want that. Only law enforcement and the military should have easy access to such weapons.

A hunter doesn’t need an AR-15 to kill deer. If he does, he isn’t much of a hunter. Target shooting is a lot more challenging if you have to hit the bulls-eye with a single shot rather than with a fusillade of bullets. We don’t need such a weapon to protect our families and homes either.

The argument that banning assault weapons would threaten the Second Amendment is, like Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, wacko.

A week before Christmas 2012, 20 5- and 6-year-olds were shot dead in their schoolrooms by a man with an assault rifle. Since then, there have been more such shootings at schools, churches, shopping malls and movie theaters. It is well past time to try to stop these random killings with sensible laws.