"Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the amendment or state analogues. The court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." This citation is from the 2008 US Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller.

These Supreme Court decisions negate extreme arguments that Second Amendment rights are absolute and that "gun-control" measures supported by President Obama are unconstitutional, as I believe disingenuously stated by Sen. Marco Rubio in his response to the state of the union address.

I believe Rubio's comments stake out the GOP position that nothing will be done. Nothing done means nothing will change in the attempt to improve our nation's sad legacy of people with guns killing people, individually and in large numbers.

Members of Congress need the courage to allow votes on common sense and constitutional measures. We the people deserve and should demand nothing less.

Jerry Hunter

Bellingham