Dear Editor:
Local debate over gun control seems to be giving an inordinate amount of attention to NRA claims; howls about second amendment rights ignore the fact of long-standing limitations on guns.
We have had prohibitions on machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, silencer-equipped weapons, etc., since 1934's National Firearms Act.
Sandy Hook and similar egregious episodes highlight the need - as it did in 1934 - to control weapons capable of mass violence. There is no more need for an assault weapon with a thirty round magazine than there was for sawed-off shotguns and machine guns in 1934.
(You probably shouldn't have any weapon if you can't do the job with a five round clip...)
It's past time for Congress to step beyond the NRA's two percent of the population and enact legislation desired by the majority of Americans!
Tom Morgan
Belmont
