
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991                   TAG: 9102190402
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MILITARY TRAINING REASON FOR SWISS TO KEEP ARMS

ALLOW ME a rejoinder to Marine Sgt. William Stump II, whose Commentary Page article Feb. 12 rests our freedom upon the universal possession of arms by the American people. First, I wish to thank Sgt. Stump for his presence in our armed forces; and just to even things up, my own European-African-Middle East Theater of Operations ribbon carries five campaign stars.

Switzerland does not arm all its civilians. Under its system of universal military service, each able-bodied man undergoes training and has an extended military-service obligation.

After training, he keeps at home all his personal military equipment, including a rifle if that is his regular weapon. He must qualify regularly with this rifle on the target range. The rifle in the home of military reservists is simply part of the admirable Swiss system. It is not a political gesture.

The Second Amendment does not guarantee the right of every man, woman and child in America to possess a deadly weapon. Hating a regular standing army as they did, the writers of the Bill of Rights recognized the militia of the several states to be the keeper of internal and external security and secured to this force the right to keep a musket handy. And by militia they meant able-bodied males able to load, prime and fire a musket against the Indians (or French).

I am sorry that Sgt. Stump has so little faith and confidence in the American people and their form of democratic government that he feels the universal possession of firearms is necessary.

He and I love the same flag, but he sees it flying only above a myriad of AK-47s, "semiautomatic weapons" and a pile of cheap handguns for the children to take to school. I see it flying above the first great modern democracy in which intelligent people vote to govern themselves. CHARLES L. STUMPP ROANOKE

by CNB