LETTER: Time for Common Sense Gun Control, Harleysville Man Says

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Dear Editor,

Since gun control is a hot button issue of the Presidential campaign, it seems useful to clarify the candidates' actual views on this issue. Gun control is more complex than the Democrats planning to take your guns and the Republicans legalizing the sale of Abrams' tanks to the public.

Clinton has been consistent in her stance on gun control since becoming a Senator. She wants to renew the same law her husband signed in 1994 to ban assault weapons. She wants to prohibit the sale of guns to people on the no-fly list and suspected terrorists, and she also wants to close loopholes that allow people to purchase guns over the Internet without being screened.

Trump has been less consistent about his position on gun control. He has been firm in his stance that assault weapons should be permitted. However, earlier in the campaign, Trump agreed that guns should not be sold to people on the no-fly list or suspected terrorists. However, after meeting with the NRA CEO in June he immediately reversed this position, claiming the government’s terrorist watch lists are unreliable.

Since this is an important issue for the Presidential campaign and especially for the public, I believe the best alternative is for the candidates and their respective parties to negotiate a common sense gun policy. Forbidding the sale of guns to people on the no fly list or suspected terrorists is common sense, as well as gun sales to convicted felons. If these controls and rules would be implemented, the sale of assault rifles could be permitted because there would be a high level of confidence that criminals and terrorist suspects would be unable to buy a gun, even a Red Rider BB gun. Such an approach would not impede on the 2nd Amendment, assault rifles will continue to be legal, and we would have a better chance of preventing bad people from getting any gun.

Matt Helfrich

Harleysville, PA

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