I am wondering how many people who voted for Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey would support his proposal to do away with background checks for people who want to carry concealed weapons.

If he and his colleagues are successful, it would mean that any seriously mentally ill person, criminal or terrorist could go to a gun show, buy a semi-automatic weapon and hide it on his or her person.

His stance on this gun issue is as mystifying as how and why Brakey, a 20-something would-be actor, got elected and appointed to chair the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, without having any training or experience in that area.

How does someone who was raised in Ohio and moved to Maine in 2011 to lead the libertarian Ron Paul campaign rise to such prominence?

It is no mystery how Brakey got elected, having received record numbers of dollars raised for an in-state Senate election. Most of the tens of thousands came from out of state and out of district, as recorded with the Maine election commission.

One wonders what interest such donors have in gaining representation in the Maine Senate. Are these more folks who wish to make it easier for terrorists and the seriously mentally ill to kill people?

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The other question is: Who is Brakey representing – Auburn and the rest of District 20, or his base of libertarians who also gave tens of thousands of dollars through the now-defunct Defense of Liberty PAC, of which he was co-founder and chairman?

Unless there are a ton of libertarians in District 20, it is my hope that the Republican caucus will do a better job of electing qualified candidates who will represent them and not a bunch of outside politicians with deep pockets.

Patrick Eisenhart

Augusta


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