Opinion/Letter: Isn’t the purpose of laws to protect people? When do we begin?

Sept. 21 -- To the Editor:

A 24 year old white man shoots and kills a black panhandler in Baton Rouge.

Two men traveled from Missouri to Wisconsin with an AR-15, a shot gun, two hand guns, a silencer, and ammunition. Both have criminal records.

Two people die in a murder/suicide here in Dover.

A man is shot and killed in Rochester.

Two are killed, 14 wounded in a shooting in Rochester, N.Y.

One weekend in August in New York City 51 people are shot, 4 dead.

Two weekends ago 54 people are shot in Chicago, 12 fatally.

Two sheriff's deputies in Compton, Calif., are ambushed and wounded while sitting in their vehicle.

The list goes on and on, day after day, week after week.

Someone. Anyone. Please. Tell me.

How is any of this protected by a more than two hundred year old law that was designed by the so-called Founding Fathers---in the absence of any organized police departments or a national standing army---to provide for the creation, when needed, of a "well regulated Militia" within the then-existing colonies/states?

Is the above what they really had in mind? Thousands of deaths, many more injured, families and communities torn apart? Handguns, automatic weapons, military assault rifles, multi-round magazines?

Isn't the purpose of laws to protect people?

When do we begin?

Anthony McManus

Dover