Editor,

Karl Schmidt’s letter of Aug. 14 was so outrageous I am moved to write. While the whole thing makes little sense, there are two points that stand out. The first is the claim that only the United States and “no other country” has freedom. I have many friends in Canada, Japan and western Europe who surely would be astonished by that claim. I suppose what Schmidt means is that gun ownership is restricted in those countries, and sensibly so. Gun violence is hardly known in those places and gun laws are the reason. But far more serious and disturbing is this, “The people who have died here in America at the hands of fellow Americans with guns laid their lives down on the altar of freedom just as sure as any American soldier.”

That statement is wrong, shameful and despicable. So for Schmidt, the murders of little children, high school students and other innocents is something he gladly accepts so he and others can own weapons of war, dress up in camo and body armor and strut about in public, all the while pretending that if they feel like it, they can overthrow the legitimate government of our country. What a pathetic fantasy.

William Shear

Farmville