I always make it a point to read John Balentine’s “Here’s Something,” because I always disagree with what he writes. Using his mother, and doing so in the name of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, is a despicable way to continue to let us know how much he despises gun control.

In his column of April 18, Balentine begins effusive praise for Dr. King, gained from watching documentaries. He then “realizes” that his mother was his age during that time. His next step is to give her the microphone. Her comments about Dr. King and his closest advisers ring true: brave, dedicated, intellectual men with a concrete goal in mind.

It would have been nice if John could have stopped there. But this article was not about Dr. King or his mother. The closing paragraph tells all. He lets her continue to speak, and she compares bootlegging during Prohibition to anti-gun laws, specious at best. But she then states, “What has happened in gun-free zones? Murders and terror.”

What are the “gun-free zones” to which his mother refers? They do not exist in the U.S. Her fear of “murder and terror” means nothing.

Balentine abused the legacy of Dr. King and his own mother’s experiences to remind us once again of his fervent opposition to gun control, a truly cowardly act.

James J. Adams
Portland

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