Editor,

This article is in response to “Enough is Enough” by Cierra Albert.

Let’s get the facts straight! Automatic weapons have been banned in the United States since 1934. This includes fully automatic rifles such as the BAR rifle and all other guns including machine guns. The law is enforced by the B.A.T.F-Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. A U.S. civilian cannot own, possess, or trade, any such weapon without a permit & license. They must also pay a high fee.

What you are attempting to describe in your article, is a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun. 76 percent of hunters use either of these rifles or shotguns. The AR-15 is a semi-automatic firing rifle. Your great grandfather or grandfather probably owned one, and hunted with a semi-automatic rifle. Both the hunter version and the AR-15 are one and the same. In many cases they fire the same ammunition.

The only reason some politicians are trying to ban the AR-15 is because of the looks and style. So, if you wish to ban a particular gun for its looks and style, go for it! Before you do so, get your facts straight!

You stated inaccurately that the civilian AR-15 sold to the public can fire as many as 600 rounds per minute. Again, you are inaccurate. The only AR-15 that can possibly reach that rate of 600 rounds per minute, is the military AR-15. A civilian cannot acquire this gun without the blessing of the B.A.T.F.

You stated in your article, no one under the age of 21 should own or possess a rifle or shotgun. Well young lady, my future brother- in-law who was due to marry my sister….was killed in action two weeks before he was to marry my sister, with his M-14 by his side. He was only 19 years of age.

It’s people and people like you, who today are advocating that he shouldn’t have the right to own a rifle until age 21. If he had made it home, as you see it, he did not meet your standard for owning a rifle or shotgun upon his return of active duty. From your standpoint, he was good and mature enough to die for your freedom. To write articles such as yours, but not good enough to purchase a gun, hogwash.

Seventeen children died in a school shooting in Florida, granted, by a mentally deranged individual. 70 of your school peers died last year in Maine from opioid drugs. Where is your outcry for their deaths? … Nothing but silence.

Roger A. Compagna

Saco