Guns are not responsible for murder - people are

I feel it might be timely to remind everyone that the only time a gun is an “assault” weapon is when it’s used to assault. When used to defend, well, guess what — it’s a “defense” weapon. I want to be able to defend myself with whatever weapon a criminal can get illegally and use against me.

Also, more people die from use of another deadly weapon — a motor vehicle. Every time we turn the ignition on, we hold a 4,000-pound loaded weapon in our hands, one with which the operator can kill any number of people. Is Congress going to ban certain high-performance vehicles or set limitations on vehicle features, such as miles per hour or horsepower?

A few years ago, I recall a letter was published in an Illinois paper that lamented the fact that a “lazy” gun left out all day never shot any of a number of easy targets, and never even loaded itself. The letter writer’s conclusion was that maybe it’s not guns that kill people after all, but rather that “misuse of guns by people” is the problem.

I pray for the families involved in the horrendous Florida shooting, but law enforcement arrested a person, not a gun. Same with a vehicle. It’s the driver that stands trial for vehicular homicide, not the car. —Dee Armstrong, Bigfork