From: Judy McCormick
Columbus
I just wanted to express my wholehearted approval of Bob Miller’s and Bob Hyatt’s letters of March 18 in which they encourage us all to put pressure on our elected officials and tell them we want additional restrictions and, yes, ban assault rifles.
It just never ceases to amaze me how great the scope and power of the National Rifle Association are — indisputably the single, largest roadblock preventing additional gun legislation in this country. It claims a membership of 4.5 million, but according to what I have read this is an exaggeration, with its membership somewhere in the range of 3.5 million to 4 million (this has been determined by the number of magazine subscriptions that are generated to its members). Even if the number were 5 million, it is only a fraction of the 325 million people in the U.S.
How, then, can it wield so much power? Yes, sorry to say, it is money. It seems politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, are controlled by their money.
I can say I usually vote Republican and am a supporter of the Second Amendment, but that doesn’t say I don’t want stricter gun laws. Sorry, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” will never mean “allow everyone and anyone to buy an assault weapon designed to kill people.”
Thank you, Bobs, for encouraging all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, to put pressure on our elected officials to vote as the majority of the people want them to, instead of being owned by the NRA. I thought we had a democracy in this country. Take a vote — not Democrat or Republican — but rather for or against stricter gun regulation.
It’s about time we all stood up to what is right, not our party affiliation. And I’m not saying this is the only solution to preventing school shooting, but for heaven’s sake, it’s only common sense that it is a huge part of it.
