As an avid hunter and gun owner who loves shooting sports, I am very concerned about the exploitation by the government of the recent shootings of innocent Americans. I find it disturbing to hear the talking points being espoused by liberals and Progressives promoting the idea that all the murders are the fault of guns. The logic of this argument is insulting to the intelligence of every citizen. The idea that a gun killed anyone is like saying that forks and spoons cause obesity, or cars cause DWI.   

   The truth of the matter is that people kill people. In England gun ownership is out lawed and yet the murder rate by firearms is more than 10 times that of America per-capita. There is actually a law being considered that would outlaw kitchen knives in the UK because the murder rate by knives is ‘sky-rocketing’. The ‘Rev.’ Al Sharpton just proposed the banning and confiscation of firearms and when asked what happens when the guns are gone and people start murdering with knives, his response – ‘then we go after knives’! How stupid can our society get!?

  In every one of the shootings that has taken place there have been two common denominators besides the fact that a firearm was the weapon of choice; all were committed in “GUN FREE ZONES” and all were perpetrated by mentally unstable/ill killers!

   The question to be asked is not so much how did these people get hold of guns, anyone who wants to use a firearm for a crime will find a way to get one, even if it means going on the internet and getting instructions on making one, but rather what are mentally ill people doing out of a medical/mental facility? The answer is because a number of years ago our brilliant leaders decided we could not afford to treat them so hospitals and mental institutions were closed or funding was drastically cut. There were literally hundreds if not thousands of mentally ill persons thrown out into society with no forethought of the unintended consequences we are now reaping in the form of dead Americans.

   The blame for the murders does not belong to guns or gun owners but to the legislators who put financial benefit above public safety. The shifting of blame from those responsible for allowing people who are a danger to themselves and to society on to the second amendment is cowardly and IMHO criminal.

 Rhetoric like ‘no one “NEEDS” a clip like this or a gun like that’ is no more than propaganda to promote a Progressive agenda. If we allow the agenda to remove or further restrict a constitutional right to succeed we will be sorry! No amount of legislation will stop the killings of people by people who want to kill. We as citizens would do well to use critical thinking when listening to any and ALL politicians who are playing to the tune of those who want to control our lives.