Joanne Pinelli’s June 22 letter “Vote against violence” is so typical of those spouting statistics and “gun facts” with absolutely no basis in fact or reality.
She starts by decrying “some states” don’t do thorough background checks. Federal background checks are thorough. All 50 states use the federal background check system. Her next point: military-grade guns are being sold to citizens. “Military grade” has no meaning. An AR-15 looks like a military weapon. It works no differently than my semi-automatic hunting rifle and the typical AR-15 shoots a smaller and less powerful bullet than my deer rifle. How it looks has absolutely nothing to do with its accuracy or capability. It fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. End of discussion.
Her final point was to ask our legislators, “What specific laws do you support to keep guns out of the hands of the seriously dangerous person?” That is the question. The rest of her letter is meaningless.
Every mass shooting in the last 10 years was done by a person known by others as potentially dangerous. And that will be true of future mass shootings. Will more laws cause people to report serious concerns? This last maniac had been reported several times to the cops.
But until we can answer Pinelli’s last question, the shootings, pressure-cooker bombs, and fertilizer explosions will continue.
