To the editor:

First of all, I would like to thank you for sharing my last letter on the Journal’s Facebook page. It seemed to bring out some of the crazies who are quite proud to carry their weapons out in public.

To address some of what was commented about guns not actually killing people. There are absolutely too many people shot dead every day by guns for that to not be true. Sure you can kill a person with a car, knife, spoon or even a nerf ball if you try hard enough. But if you want to slaughter dozens of people in less than a minute you will need a gun or in other words, assault rifle — a weapon of mass destruction.

You can make crafty little arguments that they are really just for sport, hunting or protecting your home, but they are still of lethal force. So unless you bolt your gun to your wall and permanently disable the trigger, a gun will always be a killing machine.

Folks have got to stop hiding behind the pathetic rationalization that even a toddler can see through, and own the truth that guns are for killing. And if you fundamentally believe otherwise, you might want to ask the Devil to return your soul.

When folks walk into a supermarket with semi-automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, they are not excercising their rights to bear arms. They are trying to intimidate their way to respect, and often have very little self-esteem. Some of these people definitely have mental issues, especially the ones that I have seen with the AR-15s across their backs.

Speaking in Orlando Thursday, President Obama said:

“Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense… and why it is they think our liberty requires these repeated tragedies? That is not the meaning of liberty.”

Needless to say, I agree with the president. We need an immediate ban on all assault weapons and the ones that have been sold should be immediately bought back by the government. We also need to make sure that the gun sellers play by the rules.

To all of the folks that may interpret this as “Government coming for your guns,” I say to you, I believe that you have the right to bear arms, but you should not have the right to carry or possess weapons of mass destruction. Are we clear?

If it is your desire to carry a weapon of mass destruction, or any type gun rifle etc., then you should sign up for one of the armed services of the United States. But most importantly, all guns should be insured, just like cars. You should have to at least buy liability insurance to own a gun, because you are liable to kill someone.

Patti Almanza

Hamlet