Editor,

Ms. Burke believes the Second Amendment should be limited to hunters and hobbyists. She states that she, herself, is a gun collector to strengthen her argument to ban assault rifles. She quickly blames mass shootings with semi-automatic weapons on “white supremacy” without any thought or comment given to the hate killings that go on in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, New York or a host of other big cities around the Country, mostly unfortunately, among the poorer neighborhoods and between people of color – both black and brown (aside from those killings perpetrated by Islamic extremists – all of whom used semi-automatic weapons).

The El Paso killings were done by a mad man who doesn’t like migrants — legal or illegal. His argument; Corporations love these people because they ask for lower wages taking jobs away from Americans. He further supports his actions arguing that Western Europeans did the same thing to the Native Americans and stole their land — a situation he intends to thwart today in the U.S. by killing migrants. He even argues that what he did would somehow begin to reduce our “surplus” population thereby saving the environment. This sick individual is an extremist — and it really doesn’t matter the color of his skin. There are plenty of immigrants (my own kin included) who are the target of this man’s hate, who are here and not all of them come from Mexico.

In sharp contrast, the Dayton shooter, in his manifesto calls himself a Democrat. He tells the world that he hates Trump and that he loves Elizabeth Warren; that he is anti-Second Amendment, and in general, is a left extremist.

Perhaps Ms. Burke and others of her political persuasion, would take a minute to revisit claims regarding “right wing white supremacy” and mass shootings — or any situation that tragically involves gun violence. The fact is that we, as a community, have reduced our moral behavior from standards that kept most of us safe, to relative beliefs that allow for folks to define good and evil as it fits their purpose. When, and If, this changes, perhaps we can once again, find peace among our genders, races, our many cultures and between those of us who have differences in our political beliefs.

Peter Kapuscinski

Dillwyn