I am a firm advocate in preserving the U.S. Constitution, in its entirety. There is no such thing as an ala carte Constitution where one can pick and choose the Artciles or Amendments that they agree with and disregard the others. 

The Second Amendment 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".

 I strongly agree that citizens of the United States have the right to keep and bear arms; To allow citizens to rise up against enemies; foreign and domestic should they ever invade our country and to protect themselves, their families, and their property.  However, I also believe that those who do bear arms must be well regulated.  Meaning, I support felons being banned from gun ownership; I believe that gun safety certification or weapons training requirements should be enacted in an effort to keep guns out of inexperienced hands. Sadly, every day guns are falling in to the wrong hands.  Kent County has seen 23 shootings this year alone and the frequency is growing.  I do not believe in taking away a citizens right to bear arms.  I do not believe that all of Americans should lose their rights based on the illegal activities of others.  I strongly believe that more needs to be done to enforce our existing gun laws; I believe that imposing new laws or drafting new legislation to restrict gun ownership would be a huge mistake. 

 There is a common misconception in American politics, a misconception which really irritates me and other Democrats.  Here is this issue:

 There are some Democrats, just as there are some Republicans, who will introduce more restrictive gun ownership legislation, every once in a while.  Somehow, a misconception was adopted and propagated that, “ALL Democrats want to take away guns”.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Regardless of whether a legislator is a Democrat, or a Republican… Chances are that when restrictive gun laws are proposed, these legislators are simply REACTING to a situation or to pressure from their constituents (example: The Brady Bill, reacting to the attempted assassination of President Reagan).  The mark of a good legislator is one who does not panic and react to a bad situation, badly.  A good legislator is one who follows their oath of office, “…to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States of America”.