Buss’ argument that “Democrats make this country unsafe” is patently disingenuous (“Democrats make this country unsafe,” published May 17). Buss would be more convincing if he would share true stories about home invasions where the homeowner repelled intruders with their assault rifle. The news media never reports these types of stories. I am guessing these types of scenarios rarely if ever occur.
If someone wants to own and shoot an AR-15, why don’t they join the Army or Marine Corps Infantry? The military will issue you a rifle for free!
Buss: Would you be willing to sit in a room to share your dogma with the thousands of survivors and with family members and people who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence?
Twenty million legal AR-15 rifles are owned by law-abiding citizens, until the rifle owner shoots and kills innocent people at schools, churches, synagogues, grocery stores, dance halls, concerts, movie theaters or anywhere else people gather.
What are the owners of AR-15s afraid of? Buss would be more convincing if he wrote about gun owners’ hysterical fears. A slave revolt? The Iraqi Army invading America?
There are two (of many) poster boys for why AR-15 should be banned. First, “law abiding citizen” Kyle Rittenhouse and what happened on that fateful night in Kenosha, Wisconsin is a textbook rationale for why the Second Amendment is flawed and is an anachronism today. Study the investigation and review video footage. It was a night of amateurs with guns violating all kinds of gun safety rules and etiquette. The police enabled this tragedy.
Second, to this day; investigators and professionals can not detect what motivated Stephen Paddock to amass an arsenal for an infantry company in his Las Vegas hotel room and then proceed to commit the worst mass shooting in this country’s history. Paddock was a “law abiding citizen” and a cypher. The medical examiners found Paddock to be generally in good health although they did note that Paddock had “bad teeth.” Buss, do you think Paddock murdered 58 people and injured 500 others because he was angry with his dentist?
Today, civilian ownership of military assault rifles is misuse and abuse of the Second Amendment. James Madison could never have contemplated such a weapon for today. The Second Amendment today is an anathema for “for forming a more perfect union.” There is no tranquility in America today because of the gun violence epidemic.
Contrary to Buss’ misguided arguments; it’s the amoral and corrupt Republicans who are making this country unsafe by lying down, rolling over and bowing to the corrupt bankrupt NRA, oil and health insurance lobbies.
Stanley McKie
Enumclaw
