Dear Editor:

I should not be surprised by Fred Nehring’s letter last week. True to form, he uses falsehoods, misinformation and sensationalism to try and bolster a very tired argument. Taking a particularly reprehensible page from the anti-gun lobby playbook, he evoked the memory of the children and adults slain in the tragedy in Sandy Hook to further a political agenda.

Gun violence is on the decline, Mr. Nehring, contrary to your manufactured claims. It has been steadily declining for a number of years in spite of the fact that there are more legally owned firearms in this country than ever before.

No one wants to keep guns out of the hands of criminals more than firearm enthusiasts like me. The reason America has the National Instant Background Check System is in part thanks to the NRA. They helped develop a system where the criminal backgrounds of potential buyers of firearms could be checked through federally licensed dealers. As far as including the mentally ill, who decides what constitutes a disqualifying illness? That is one of those slippery slopes that we oft find ourselves on. Stripping lawful Americans of their “Right to bear arms” does nothing to keep guns from the hands of criminals; statistically, they buy their guns from other criminals.

Mr. Nehring's combination of homicides and suicides to arrive at his 30,000 deaths per year is an old trick to lend weight to his argument. With gun homicides around 8,500 per annum, the remaining number are suicides. As tragic as suicide is, the mere presence of a firearm did not cause them.

He is right in that much of the violence problem could be rectified by better economics, stronger families, etc. Maybe if people like him focused on those things instead of trying to mislead your readers about firearms, we could realize some progress.

Semper Armatus.

Linc Sample

Boothbay Harbor