EDITOR’S NOTE: The author’s full name was withheld to protect his job security as a university employee.

Iam a gun owner who has legally purchased and collected firearms for many years. I find the gun control laws recently passed in the General Assembly to be a total infringement on my Second Amendment rights.

The first rule of common sense is to study and know your subject before you make a judgment or decision. When a car driven by a drunken, crazy criminal kills innocent bystanders, do people cry for car control? You are 64 times more likely to be killed by a doctor than by someone wielding a gun, according to statistics compiled by NaturalNews.com. Why has the Department of Homeland Security purchased more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition?

Why would the government be trying to stockpile ammunition? Does it think there will be repercussions for something it plans on doing? The deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School and other places are terrible. Is the answer taking guns away from honest, law-abiding citizens? Do you think criminals will turn in their weapons?

Anyone with open eyes should notice the apparent swing in Americans’ attitudes toward drug violence. We criminalize plenty of drugs, but prescription-drug abuse is an epidemic that has also led to a resurgence in heroin addiction. Many drugs are illegal, and how has that issue changed? These laws are an attempt to make it look like Gov. Martin O’Malley — the wannabe president — is addressing a problem with a drastic and unconstitutional plan to feed his own agenda.

Americans have always had guns, and there has never been an anti-gun outcry of this magnitude before. The guns were here, but it isn’t the guns that need addressing: It is the criminals and the mental condition of these crazed individuals. As a society, we need to search for what changed in America and why.

Our Founding Fathers had the great insight and intelligence to know one day someone would try to disarm the people. They knew citizens must have the ability to fight back against their own government, just as they did against Great Britain and King George.

Look at 20th century history. Adolf Hitler told fellow Germans in the 1930s that gun control would make them safer. Joseph Stalin took away Russians’ right to own guns just years earlier. See a pattern? Has our government reached a point where leaders think they know what is best for us?

Look at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his regulations on soda. We have lost our right to be heard by our government unless we share its beliefs. We must not allow any changes or distortions to the Constitution. First comes small change, then comes drastic change. Many people died to keep the strength and rights on which America was built. Do we not owe a debt of respect to leave a document of such importance untouched, instead of trying to rewrite it to conform to changes in society? Is society not to live within the rules and laws of the land?

I feel that as a nation, we need to step back and take a deep breath before we start assigning blame, changing laws and taking away people’s right to bear arms. Even if you are against guns, do you or should you have the right to take away the security and passion they offer others? I think not, and I have talked with many others who feel we are walking down the wrong path. We need to look before we jump.

Mark is a university employee. He can be reached at opinionumdbk@gmail.com.