Reading the account in the Sept. 23 Sun Journal of the acquittal of the young Auburn man who shot a father of five in the back, not once but twice, one wonders at the verdict.

One also wonders at a question begged — what was this person doing with a Glock pistol ready to use in the first place?

But, of course, I can answer my own question: The Second Amendment rights sacred to so many Mainers, and a basis for the cravenness which afflicts too many state and federal politicians when it comes to gun control.

How many incidents like this have to happen, how many children killed because their parents keep guns where kids can get them, how many mass shootings must occur before we, our legislators and a reactionary Supreme Court wise up and implement meaningful gun legislation?

Back in 1854, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison burned the U.S. Constitution because of its provisions indulgent of slavery. I would not go that far, but public burning of the Second Amendment, both in Augusta and Washington, does not seem out of line.

Edward McCarthy, Vienna


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