The Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights states: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Think about the following list and the rights of the victims:

Five children shot and killed in Graham, Wash., last week.

Thirteen people killed in Binghamton, N.Y., last week.

Five men and two women killed in Seattle in 2006.

Three Pittsburgh police officers killed last week.

Twelve children gunned down in Columbine, Colo., in 1999.

Eight people killed in Carthage on March 29.

Thirty-three faculty and students killed at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in 1968.

John F. Kennedy killed in 1963.

I wonder if the framers of the Constitution thought this would be the result of the right of the people to keep and bear arms? I can't imagine that this was their intention.

Is this what the duties of a well-regulated militia are? I keep thinking of the words in an old '60s folk song: "When will they ever learn?" Isn't it time for a change?

Lynn Mellus

Pinehurst