Rights aren’t absolute

Regarding the NRA leadership’s reaction to the Newtown massacre, they seem to be on the verge of proposing the regulation of the virtual guns in virtual video games but cannot stomach the regulation of real guns whose only purpose is to kill real people.

In other words, the NRA leadership is willing to put limits on First Amendment rights, but not on Second Amendment rights. We must all remember that both amendments are a part of the Constitution, which our founding fathers established “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.”

Students of American government learn that no rights are absolute, since they often conflict with the rights of others. I would ask those who are NRA members to suspend their memberships as a way to send a message to the national leadership that they support the entire Constitution, which has room for reasonable limits on guns and gun ownership.

Mark Otten, Raleigh