Television dramas and video games celebrate gun culture. Our children grow up taking it for granted. Missouri has a gubernatorial candidate who thinks it’s appropriate, even after Orlando’s bloodshed, to air an ad in which he shoots an assault weapon and sets off an explosion.

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Americans should be able to own firearms. But the Second Amendment contains the words “well-regulated,” meaning firearms ownership is not an unrestricted right. The general public cannot own a working grenade launcher or M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.

But in many states they can amass enormous arsenals of military-style weaponry and ammunition. They can walk the streets with openly displayed long guns, effectively terrorizing the rest of us, all in the name of a bogus reading of the Second Amendment. Congress doesn’t dare question it.

Americans must demand a return to common-sense gun control. Now’s the time, not just because of the Orlando tragedy but because it’s an election year in which the GOP’s grip on Congress is growing tenuous.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-now-s-the-time-for-common-sense-gun-control/article_c25b9515-b67b-54a1-b140-c4a2e79a1725.html