In response to Tim Kasper’s letter on March 26 about taking away my First Amendment rights, I wish to respond with the following.

I spent 20 years serving my country in the military. I am enjoying a healthy retirement check every month now. During those 20 years I earned several expert medals firing assault-type weapons. Now, all I have in the house is a primitive single-shot 20-gauge shotgun that is missing the forearm on it. I keep it around for protection. One of these days I probably should go get some ammunition for it. I have been accepted in the American Legion. They treat me like a hero, which I don’t feel I deserve. I feel the heroes are either dead or disabled. I also don’t feel the disabled veterans are being treated fairly, which is another of my concerns.

In your letter, you say neither the government nor anyone else has the right to tell you what kind of gun you can or cannot own. I would guess you probably think the government or anyone else can’t tell you not to use crack cocaine, also. In your letter, you called yourself a right-wing loon. I have to agree. Have you seen on the news about those 20 kids who were murdered lately? They showed a picture of the person who did it. He looked like a puny, little pipsqueak who thought he was a big, big man for having all those weapons he had stored in his room. He had 10 30-round clips for his assault weapon when he committed this tragedy. These weapons I call our present-day machine guns.

How would you like to go and tell the parents of those 20 kids how you deserve the right to own one of these guns? By the way, I would like to ask you what sacrifice you have made that makes you feel you deserve the right to own one of these assault weapons. Maybe a background check on you is what you are afraid of. I wander if that’s what gun dealers are afraid of also. Maybe this is a question for Elaine Hart. I really don’t understand when 90 percent of the population want background checks and our politicians don’t seem to get the message.

As most of you know the firearms companies own a big share of the Republican Party. I would guess this is what is causing the big holdup. I hope you independents remember this when you get in the voting booth in 2016.

 

Wayne Thorson
Albert Lea