What’s the difference between a gun and a car? Although both can be extremely deadly, there is no constitutional right to own a car. The Democrat party is so obsessed to oust president Trump they have already started hitting the campaign trail more than two years before the election. To be expected, one common thread all of the candidates have in common is their message of passing more constitutionally infringing gun laws. Out of the thousands of gun laws already on the books, Democrats propose even more. It would seem if the thousands of gun laws we presently have haven’t stopped mass shootings, how can a few more make any impact? Further, the new laws proposed would not have prevented past mass shootings. Insanity is conducting the same failed test over and over … while expecting change.

Although these presidential office seekers come from a wide array of legal/professional backgrounds, they demonstrate a decided lack of understanding the constitution. One very old argument presently being advanced is to ban the ownership of AR-15 type rifles. “Nobody needs an assault rifle to hunt” they say. This happens to be true. Then again, there are many things we Americans have that we don’t need from sports cars to yachts to alcoholic drinks. The big difference is our constitution grants American citizens the right to own a specific item not afforded to any other tangible object. Law abiding Americans have a protected right to own a gun.

The Constitution does not grant and protect the right to hunt. Hunting and gun ownership is mutually exclusive. To bring up a conversation about an AR-15’s uselessness as a hunting arm is a deliberate distraction for the consumption of superficial minds. Let’s be perfectly clear once and for all. The Constitution permits the private ownership of guns for the sole purpose of killing people … not deer. The Second Amendment is entirely about self-defense. If it’s indeed true that AR-15 type weapons are the best suited for killing people, then they above all other guns on the market need to be made available to the citizens of the United States. To say or suggest otherwise is to trample the freedom, the essence and the very reason our founding fathers gave us a Second Amendment to start with.

For those who gasp at the 25,000 who die by guns each year, consider many in that figure are justifiable homicides, suicides and assault weapons account for less than 0.03 percent of all firearms deaths. Drug abuse counts for about 70,000 deaths in America each year. Hospital malpractice claims more than 200,000 lives. Knives and blunt force trauma take far more lives than do assault style weapons. We should all pray the tally of dead from car accidents (and the aforementioned) claim as few lives each year as do automatic rifles. The Democrat party will not offer up these verifiable truths. Their socialist oppression and the constitutional freedom we honor and revere cannot coexist. If the Democrat message about the Second Amendment is this distorted, what other distortions are they pandering?

KARL SCHMIDT lives in Prince Edward County. His email address is tenbears@centurylink.net.