Dear Editor:

Thanks to our ultra-liberal gun laws, gun violence continues to rise United States. Gun deaths here per 100,000 population are on par with Iraq or Afghanistan. It is not that we have more criminals than other industrialized nations, it is just that our criminals are better armed.

But to suggest that we should take guns away from criminals is to invite being called a “gun-grabber.”

Or to advocate signing treaties to restrict sales of guns to terrorists and narcotics traffickers is a good way to raise hackles of the gun lobby so to continue to allow unrestricted gun sales internationally.

And if you insist that gun purchasers be screened for violent tendencies or psychopathic behavior you would be accused of infringing upon a right as if it were an absolute right.

But it was for the criminals, terrorists and incompetents that the second amendment talks about “a well regulated militia.”

The “shall not be infringed” part is for the rest of us sportsmen, collectors and security professionals.

Since 20 children and six teachers we shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, over 60,000 Americans have been killed, sacrificed upon the altar of those who believe their right to bear arms is superior to your right to live.

We do not need more liberal gun laws. Compounding violence with the threat of more violence will not make us a more peaceable society. What we need are economically stable families, better schools, affordable healthcare. We need to join in with the rest of the civilized world in recognizing that guns and violence never solve anything.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay