Editor: 

In response to the Oct. 10 letter by Michele Varga, “He doesn’t get it.” I get it just fine. There is a factual error in this letter. I said nothing about the U.S. using AK-47’s against “our enemies.” The AK-47 was used against us. Although the, “Assault (style) weapon” got sensational attention in a number of infamous shootings, it doesn’t change the fact it’s the least used firearm in crime nationally speaking. Would those who rail against assault style weapons feel better if the mass killings had been carried out with shotguns? The Las Vegas shooter used assault style weapons to amplify the terror of his suicidal mission. Had he used an ordinary bolt action scoped varmint rifle, he could of killed more.

In my last 50 years hunting, I’ve taken in excess of 6,000 game animals that I’m aware of. I understand weapons better than most. By any standard, a school is a “soft target” and those who used assault style rifles did so because they were firearms ignorant and blindly decided to use that type weapon for mass murder. Subsequent morally bankrupt copy-cat mass shooters liked that image making for its repeated use.

Without trying to seed the mind of the next would be shooter by this letter, there are many ordinary weapons with a wide array of munitions just as capable (if not more so) to carry out a mass murder than assault style weapons. The assault style weapon fires 1 bullet for one pull of the trigger. Shotguns can surpass that. What most anti gun/pro gun ban American’s fail to realize is the market offers many other choices. In these United States, a person who can pass an FBI background check can legally purchase a variety of, “full-auto’s” that include .50 cal. belt fed machine guns. A ban on assault style guns is like eliminating one type of mosquito. There are so many other types, the one removed will never be noticed.

Karl Schmidt

Farmville