154,483. Think about that number for a minute. Digest it. It’s not a lottery number or a high-priced car. You’ll never see it in a National Rifle Association magazine, and it should concern all Americans.

Are you getting it yet? It’s the number of Americans killed by Americans, in gun violence, in our country, since the 2012 Newtown massacre of those precious young lives, according to Stop Handgun Violence. 154,483. And, now, 59 more lives lost in Las Vegas.

We have the nerve to call ourselves a civilized nation? Our forefathers must be rolling in their graves, watching how the Second Amendment, and what it was written to mean, is being desecrated! The brain dead have their own interpretation of the Second Amendment. And this nightmare will continue until we wake up and legislate sensible gun control.

This insane number of killings exceeds the number of boys we lost in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined, but what are we doing about it? Nothing! Our elected officials need that money from the NRA lobby to support their campaigns.

President Trump has us worried about foreign entities coming here to do us harm. Well, over 33,000 Americans are killed by guns every single year, right under his useless nose. Terrorists don’t have to come here to kill us; we’re doing just fine by ourselves.

For eight years, we lived under the same threat in a calm, assuring Obama administration, but Trump, like all Republicans, chooses fear to accomplish their goals. With all of the terrorist action in Europe, guns are never used. Do you know why? Because you can’t buy guns or assault weapons in Europe! It doesn’t stop acts of terror, but it does limit casualties.

I’d like to see how the NRA explains that away. And with this president in power, don’t hold your breath for change.

Doug Davis

Windham