To the Editor:
I read with interest David Dallas March 25 article in the Villages-News.com, titled “Should the AR-15 be banned?”
Mr. Dallas went into great detail the various nomenclature about the AR-15, what “is an assault weapon”, a military grade weapon, and the caliber ammunition for various weapons. I found the article completely devoid of any sympathy for the victims of both Colorado and Atlanta shootings. Mr. Dallas’s apparent disregard for human life and the consequences suffered by fathers, mothers, sons, daughters is astonishing on many levels. I suspect this article was written by the NRA and gun manufacturers. How else to explain the overzealous admiration of the 2nd amendment as if owning a gun was more important than life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Mass murders are collateral damage to the 2nd Amendment rights.
My son, daughter-in-law, 6-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old grandson live in Boulder. They shop at the King Sooper grocery store near their home where nine people and a police officer were murdered on March 22. It was fortuitous circumstance that my daughter-in-law went toy shopping instead of grocery shopping that particular afternoon. I have been to that store myself many times while visiting Boulder.
We have this pandemic of daily mass shootings in this country that the NRA and our disgusting politicians aid and abet on a daily basis. The latest figures show there are over 393 million guns in civilian hands in the United States. Forty-six percent of the guns in civilian hands in the world are in the US. When I retired 16 years ago that number was just over 200 million guns. Are we safer today now that we have double that number of guns in civilian hands. I think not. Yet the majority of citizens advocate for background checks and removal of Mr. Dallas’s assault weapons from civilian ownership.
There is now no place we can go that we are free from danger of a mass shooting whether it is a grocery store, movie theater, church, theater, outdoor gatherings or schools. My grandchildren now practice lockdown drills at schools. I find lockdown drills an absolute absurdity but necessary.
I had an M-16 carbine in Vietnam. I have never fired a weapon since and don’t plan to, now. In the twilight of my life, I would like my children and grandchildren to not have to live in fear of another pandemic of mass shooting. It that too much to ask of the pro-gun citizens?
Paul Dallaire
Village of Pine Ridge