To the editor:

We’re hearing a lot about the Hobby Amendment. Long ago, our Founding Fathers put out a call to protect a hobby, any hobby. And it made sense. Who wanted Redcoats barging in at 2 a.m. to snatch your wife’s needlepoint?

So in 1791, after sensible parts of the Bill of Rights were agreed on, the mood got festive, giddy. An additional Hobby Amendment was proposed. The gun collectors won the drawing and the Second Amendment became law. It protected folks who needed 30-round magazines. All right — then it was just flintlock muskets.

But things have changed. Nowadays, except for farmers, ranchers and the few citizens who depend on wild game for food, guns are a hobby, clear and simple. It’s now time to extend gun protection to all kinds of hobbies.

Government conspiracies abound, and who knows if Girl Scout cookie ovens are next on the list for shutdown by the FBI and its sniffer dogs? As a bird watcher, I want my binoculars safe from search and seizure. My stamp collecting albums are nobody’s business. And my neighbor’s wood working tools — what does Uncle Sam have against miniature totem poles? So let’s open the Second Amendment (Hobby Amendment) to all hobbyists, not just the gun people.

Call your legislators. Tell them all hobbies need protection. Hands off our machine guns. Hands off our Julia Child simmering pans. And hands off our graphite tube golf clubs.

And while they’re at it, let’s make our town a sanctuary—safe even for hobbies that make national headlines like those from Parkland, Las Vegas and Columbine. You’ll not find Tiverton on that list. Not yet.

Ron Marsh

Tiverton