I like my guns but this must end

The writer is a retired state senator who served in the N.C. legislature from 1989-2011.

“Stay outta churches, Walmarts and schools...” is a message I received from a friend of mine in Nashville recently. While not mentioned, he was referring to the school shooting that had taken place there about the same time our legislature in Raleigh had made it a little easier to purchase a weapon in North Carolina.

I’ve seen a lot of changes in my lifetime. While I haven’t agreed with all of them, many have been for the best. But of all the changes that have taken place, I never thought I would see the time when parents would send or take their kids to school and have to worry that someone might come in with an assault weapon and slaughter them indiscriminately.

How sad it is, and it doesn’t have to be.

According to a pediatrician in Uvalde, Texas two of the school-shooting victims were so “pulverized” they could only be identified by their clothing. It seems there are some who think our Second Amendment is written in stone like the Ten Commandments. It is not.

I learned long ago that the law is what the people say it is at any time in history. For example, a little over a 100 years ago women couldn’t vote. There have been 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

We shouldn’t have to live in fear that someone might come into schools, churches, malls or any public place with a weapon designed to kill scores of people. It doesn’t have to be. Unless for law enforcement or military use these types of weapons should be taken off the streets.

Here’s a challenge to my lawmaking friends: Do something! Prove you care more for “we the people” than the gun lobby.

Charlie Albertson, Beulaville