We had a family reunion trip planned in York for the summer of 2016, then canceled at the news of Maine’s new permit-free concealed handgun law.

A close friend who worked as a social worker in Maine cited the horrific cases he was assigned to and how this gun law is a nightmare. America’s gun culture should be seen as an abnormal psychology, consistent with other addictions and/or fetishes.

You can forget about presenting research – how Australia changed its culture with massive gun restrictions after the Port Arthur massacre, the estimated $250 billion-a-year cost of gun violence, the 30,000 killed each year by guns – because that is irrelevant to the irrational mind. How irrational (and hypocritical) is this mindset?

The National Rifle Association seemingly wants guns everywhere, except one isn’t allowed to bring a gun into its headquarters.

How much does the NRA believe in the Second Amendment? Not much, apparently, as it left off the words “well-regulated militia” from the text of the Second Amendment emblazoned on the wall of its headquarters.

The NRA’s cluelessness is evident in the belief that “an armed society is a polite society.” Huh? We have adults shooting others because they had to “stand their ground” against rap music wafted into their air space.

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The U.S. is chock full of fragile adults who speak of pending doom when the biggest threat to Americans is when Starbucks runs out of their favorite latte flavoring. People feel this need to be armed and ready with assault rifles, and we don’t treat that as a fear, anxiety or antisocial-based disorder?

I lived in the seacoast region of New Hampshire for over 10 years, usually leaving my doors unlocked. And what a surprise: Nobody was interested in murdering me or my family.

We look forward to our summer vacation, most likely on Cape Cod.

David Guenette

San Francisco


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