Dear Editor: Opinions are expressed on both ends of the right to carry arms spectrum. Amendment II (amendment numbers, though not in the original script, were added for ease of reference) of the U.S. Constitution 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. Perhaps the framers were careless in forming this amendment. It is more than likely that the wording is a necessary compromise amongst sparring lawmakers. Certainly the framers were aware that the mother country armed forces held sway over the colonists by the sheer number of their weapons (not to mention training, equipment, etc.) and did not again want to be in the position of being inadequately armed. Note that Amendment II makes mention of the right to keep arms, a right the overly zealous anti-gun people would take away from the citizens. The amendment might just as well have read: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed so that a militia might be rapidly formed to stave off an actual or perceived threat. Unless citizens are permitted to keep arms, an incipient citizen militia would be at a disadvantage. Recently the media carried the story of a “militia”, formed by the elite, killing non-elite, but armed, kids, women and elderly in India. That the armed non-elite were killed even though the battle lasted 2 1/2 hours may be attributed to untrustworthy police or the police on the “pad” of the elite. It is likely that mercenaries were hired for this assault much as the British hired German mercenaries to fight the colonists. Most victims of felonies, if they survive, know that the police arrive after the crime has been committed; victims are on their own, the well-armed Rosie O’Donnell notwithstanding. History does repeat itself. There are those who would describe this comparison as outrageous, ignorant and shallow and see no validity in it. I fear that they cling to what Thomas Aquinas called ignorantia affectata, a cultivated ignorance. Of course they may take pride in being among the cultivated even though their likeminded associates would be ignorant. Knowing that assaults are an everyday event from muscular men, the deranged, knives, bats, pipes, etc. it is unwise to deprive citizenry while weapons of all types abound and strong men can easily overwhelm weaker positions. Frank X. Landrigan