LETTER: Do sportsmen really need automatic weapons?

To the Editor:

I guess it would be pretty easy for someone to confuse someone of the Sikh faith with people who adhere to radical Islam, after all they do have beards and wear turbans. At least it seems an easy enough mistake for those of our population who get most of their information from right wing, hateful, nut-job sources like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Tea Party Tribune, Briebart and Fox News to name a few. These are the organizations that spew their hatred day after day railing against anyone who dares to think different than they do, or looks different; perhaps they have a name that just sounds foreign. (sound like anyone you may have heard of?) they just keep on and on until someone, for whatever reason takes their hatred to heart, and makes it their own, giving them someone to blame for whatever bad things are wrong with their own miserable lives. Now with all of this hatred being justified by the right wing media (at least justified in their own sick minds) these people go out and exercise their constitutional right to bear arms. Does anyone besides me see anything wrong with this? We’re talking here about two different constitutional amendments, the first the right to freedom of speech, and the second, the right to bear arms. I agree with the first, our nation was founded on the principle of free speech, and we should be free to speak our minds, but when what’s on our minds is hurtful, hateful and dishonest, should our freedom go that far?

I don’t think that was what the founding fathers had in mind. I agree with the second also, but when does one’s freedom to bear arms become a threat to the safety of everyone else? Do sportsmen really need automatic weapons?

I’m talking about real need here. Do you need clips on these weapons that hold 20, 30, or 100 rounds? Are you going hunting or starting a war? Hey I agree with you, it’s great to live in a free country, but even freedom can be troublesome when it infringes on the rights of others. Like the right not to be slandered or the right to go to church or a movie or look or talk differently without fear of being shot at by some nut.

John Wilson

Star Prairie

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion