Letter: Sheriffs should urge people to follow laws

The letters to the editor in opposition to the new gun law are ludicrous and sometimes comical. The favorite argument against registering assault weapons is that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Several county sheriffs, including DuPage's Mendrick, have said this. First, the Second Amendment uses the words "well-regulated" before the words "right to bear arms" in the Constitution. A law requiring registration of particular weapons sure sounds like a regulation. Second, the courts, not the sheriffs, will determine constitutionality of the law. Until the courts determine otherwise, consider the law constitutional.

Nobody is taking away anybody's guns. The law says register your assault weapons if you own them. If you don't register them, then you are no longer a "law-abiding" citizen. The rogue sheriffs know that. They say they don't want to go after "lawful" gun owners. With the new law, "lawful" gun owners register their guns.

As the sheriff in Lake County said, he isn't going to go door to door checking if a gun is registered. That would be unnecessarily costly. If, during the course of doing their duty, the police come across an unregistered assault weapon, then that gun owner would be in violation of the new law and should be arrested.

What all sheriffs in Illinois should be doing is encouraging their citizens to follow the law and register their assault weapons to remain "law abiding" citizens. They could do it over phone or online with minimal cost or inconvenience. How hard is that?

Diane Niesman

Wheaton