In response to recent letters about sensible gun control: Background checks are a must and registration is good, but I’d like to think these writers would agree the evil element can bypass background checks and certainly won’t register illegal firearms. So where does that leave us? If guns are taken out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, then all they can do is rely on a police officer who probably won’t arrive in time. Bad guys love unarmed victims.
Guns have been in our homes since the birth of our nation, so what happened?
• Values and responsibility are not being taught at home.
• TV and movie gunfights. The same people who make money on action movies want to take your guns from you.
• Courts in many cases are too lenient on sentencing.
• The warning signs of a potential mass shooter with suicidal intentions are being ignored.
Semi-automatic guns have been in our homes since World War II, so nothing new there. Most places you can’t hunt with them, but our Second Amendment wasn’t to guarantee hunters could have their rifles; it was to ensure citizens could protect themselves from a runaway government. World history provides many examples of unarmed citizens being massacred at the pleasure of their communist state.
If statistics of registered gun owners guilty of mass shootings and other crimes were shown, the number would be extremely low. The NRA doesn’t produce criminals; it teaches safety and marksmanship to law-abiding citizens, many who have gone on to serve and defend our country.
Ron Maxson
Hempfield