To The Eagle:

A writer in this column recently sought to remind us that the constitution has been amended 17 times, drawing the conclusion the Bill of Rights is not inalienable and insinuating these rights can be “amended.”

The fact is if we look at those 17 amendments we will find nearly all of them are written to limit or control the government, not the people.

Only one of those 17 amendments limited the freedom of the People. That was the 18th amendment which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol. This amendment proved to be such a bad idea they had to pass the 21st Amendment which revoked and abolished the 18th Amendment. We should learn from this when we talk of amending away our freedoms.

The writer then makes the statement “Widely admired combat grade semi-automatic rifles, the weapon of choice of recent mass murderers.”

According to FBI statistics, the vast majority (nearly 3 to 1) of mass murderers choose handguns. When there’s a “mass shooting” politicians and the media want nothing more than to find it was done with a scary looking AR15 and hype it over and over and over. This gives the erroneous impression that it’s the most popular gun for mass shootings. However, hype does not change facts.

I had not heard of the term “combat grade” so I googled it, the only reference I could find was a grading system of players in a video game.

The writer then concludes with a statement complaining about “the unregulated possession of military grade firearms by civilians.”

So now it is “military grade,” what does that mean?

Amazon sells military grade socks, keyboards, watches, tarps, cell phone covers, car roof bags, ponchos, binoculars, duffle bags, even glow sticks to name a few. Should we be concerned with such ‘military grade’ equipment in the hands of civilians?

Googling “Military Grade” informs me that the term is used by commercial companies for marketing purposes. No military in the world defines military equipment as military grade, but when civilians hear something is military grade, they expect it to be tough and durable.

Let us try and stick with facts and leave the hype to the media and politicians.

M. Moneyhan

Puget Island