Jonathan Kotch: There’s a reason it’s 2nd Amendment

Regarding the Jan. 6 news article “Obama: ‘We can’t accept this carnage’ ”: President Obama did all of us a favor by exercising his executive authority to extend the definition of who is in the business of selling firearms. As a result, some of the background check loopholes could be closed.

“All of us” is the 90 percent of Americans who support sensible gun control measures. The 90 percent includes a majority of Republicans and a majority of gun owners.

So who is the Congress representing when it steadfastly maintains that the Second Amendment should allow former felons and domestic abusers to purchase firearms at gun shows, without background checks?

There is a reason why the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the Second Amendment, not the first. Freedom of speech, of religion, of the press and to peacefully assemble come first. Those rights were trampled on in Newtown, San Bernardino, Charleston and Aurora.

According to the Declaration of Independence, governments are instituted in order to secure certain unalienable rights with which men (sic) are endowed by their Creator, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. One cannot exercise these rights if one is dead.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Jonathan Kotch: There’s a reason it’s 2nd Amendment."