Dear Editor:

It was with great sadness I read about another school shooting, in Florida this time. Watching the CNN town meeting with the young survivors and families made me weep. It is so depressing to see this kind of outrageous violence happen over and over again. I am not opposed to gun ownership. I have family members who hunt and own guns, but it is now time for responsible, sensible, gun owners to also take a stand against the absolutism of the NRA. The Constitution talks of a "well regulated militia."  We have lost our common sense and the NRA has lost its moral compass. One cannot drive a car without taking driver's training, a test and become licensed. The car needs to be registered and one must have insurance. All of these rules are in place to protect the public.

Australia has not had a mass murder since 1996, when they outlawed guns such as the AK-47 and the AR-15 and did a buy back of automatic guns like those military rifles. But then we are not Australia. We allow such nonsense of “gun rights” for anything continue to the detriment of our society. Extremist ideology does none of us any good. The government is not going to boot kick in a gun owner’s door and confiscate his guns (I say this because most of the rabid defenders are men). It's a specious conspiracy theory at best. We need to be thoughtful and determine that our people's lives are more important than a right to go out and have fun with a military weapon.

Ninety-seven percent of Americans support gun legislation. There is reasonable legislation that can end the carnage and it won't happen until we vote out those who take thousands and millions of dollars from the NRA. Follow the money. The NRA can again have a reputation it used to have as a promoter of careful and reasonable gun use. Until that happens, follow the money and take action as citizens to bring about change.

Bonnie Ginger

Boothbay