I would like to add my thoughts to a recent letter “Gun laws can’t stop criminals” (Jan. 17).

Guns are not the problem, people are. That should be quite clear now around the nation. Ridding our society of violence and murder can’t be done with President Obama’s ridiculous gun laws. Gun control legislation can’t control gun violence. It instead is taking away American citizens’ Constitutional right.

Gun control laws are not eliminating guns from society. They eliminate our ability to protect out lives, our liberty and our pursuits of happiness.

The recent writer quoted Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. I would like to quote Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, who by the way, was a alumnus of the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard University. When Emperor Hirohito of Japan was toying with the idea of invading mainland United States during World War II, Adm. Yamamoto advised against an invasion stating “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Chicago, Ill.: Chicago has had some of the toughest gun laws in America, and not just for the past few years. It is currently twice as likely for you to be killed in Chicago as in the war in Afghanistan. For the past 11 1/2 years, in the war in Afghanistan, 2,166 people have been killed. Now, in only eight years, in Chicago, 4,265 people have been killed, 3,371 of them from being shot.

Of the 3,371, 37 were killed with a rifle, which is barely 1 percent. FBI statics claim that more people were murdered with knives, “hands or feet” or “clubs and hammers” than with any type of rifle.

New York state has a ban on “assault weapons.” An assault weapon is described as: a semi-automatic rifle or pistol able to accept a detachable magazine, with at least one characteristic as described under the law. (eg. folding or telescoping stock, flash suppressor); a semi-automatic shotgun with at least one characteristic, as described under the law. (eg. folding or telescoping stock, 2nd hand grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand, fixed magazine capacity of more than seven rounds, ability to accept a detachable magazine); a revolving cylinder shotgun.

The other 98 percent killed in Chicago were killed with a handgun. So, creating gun control legislation that targets assault rifles has proven to only weed out less than 1 percent of the problem, if you’re lucky. I would also like to point out that none of the guns used in the Chicago shootings were registered or licensed to the people who used them. This even further proves that simply restricting guns would not stop criminals from using them or will restrict criminals from harming others in general.

On the same day of the Sandy Hook shooting, a man in central China stabbed 22 children and one adult. Guns are not needed for mass murder. Robbing American citizens of our right to own them won’t solve anything.

The majority of gun violence occurs in low-income neighborhoods. Having legislation to raise the overall cost of owning a gun through higher licensing and registration fees would be discriminating against these lower income individuals who are at a higher risk of being victimized by crime.

The gun laws, that President Obama wants to pass, are essentially to defeat the purpose of our own Constitution.

The entire foundation of the United States is formed on the principal that the government, our government, is a government of the people, for, the people, by the people.

Taking away the right of people to bear arms is taking away the people’s power in the government. The Second Amendment, which grants citizens the right to secure their natural rights, is the backbone of our Democratic society.

My hope is that our elected officials consider these points as gun-control legislation is proposed.

Richard Lancaster is a Westfield resident.