Dear Editor:

“Let's not politicize this” is a creation of rhetorical genius by the gun manufacturers’ lobby. It does two things well.

First, it deflects conversation away from gun violence to the immediate tragedy of the killings. It implies that any further discussion about gun violence might be an intrusion on the grief and mourning of the families who suffered a loss.

The second thing it does well is to place the discussion’s frame of reference away from public health, safety, justice or the moral underpinnings of our gun policy and puts it into the frame of politics with all the implications of the sleazy back room dealings that it connotes.

When confronted with this rhetorical twist, the unwary public recoils at the thought that it might be disgraceful to discuss doing “something” to prevent further tragedies.

Not only is the gun manufacturers’ lobby rhetoric crass and disingenuous, but it also trivializes the killings by preventable gun violence.

Let’s give some meaning to those whose lives were so tragically cut short and do something about the gun violence that is plaguing our nation.

Fred W. Nehring
Boothbay