LETTER: Lock up criminals, not guns

Once again, instead of working to solve the horrible tragedies of mass shootings, particularly in schools, the left goes to their standard argument to take guns away from innocent law-abiding people and not address why the criminally, mentally ill are not institutionalized.

Whether one gets a mass-murder weapon legally or illegally is moot to the families of the dead. The left cannot admit the obvious that criminals willing to slaughter innocents will not obey laws to keep these weapons out of the their hands.

The left also says that “no one needs an AR-15,” but the fact is that we are in the midst of an arms race. If someone is in your school, house or business and is armed with an AR-15, a sling-shot ain’t gonna do it! You need a weapon at least as powerful as the evil enemy you face. Wait for the police? Yeah, and wait for the bodies to pile up!

The arms race will go on as will the slaughter until we recognize those threatening us and put them away. The Florida killer was recognized and identified for the threat he posed and law-enforcement failed to act. Had they acted, though, would he have been institutionalized or put back on the street as the left seems to want? Until we move on the last point, the slaughter will continue, even if you make all AR-15s and similar weapons illegal.

It’s a little like weed here in Indiana. Its possession and use is illegal though half the population has used it. Laws don’t protect people. And if you believe having an AR-15 is necessary to protect your family, you’re going to get one. By the same token, if you want to shoot up a school, you’re going to get one—unless you are put away!

Believe it or not, rapid-fire weapons have been around for a long time and we didn’t have this problem. If you aren’t willing to put these people away, as was the case 50 years ago, you don’t want the problem solved and the blood is on your hands as well.

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John L. Sorg