Peter Elsemore: Where do we draw the line on weapons possession?

To the editor:

This is in response to Dave Mitchell’s letter about the Second Amendment. I agree that the purpose was indeed to act as a check against a federal army taking control over citizens, but I am unsure of the quote about “common use.” These words do not exist in the text of the Second Amendment. Would the Founding Fathers have wanted the government to be able to possess far more powerful weapons than the citizens, who make up the militia, were allowed? Did they intend such weapons as the quick-firing Belton flintlock, although certainly not in “common use,” to be owned by citizens?