I would like to offer a different perspective to gun debate. We are being played for fools by the politicians. The politicians have allowed millions upon millions of military-style firearms to be sold in this country. Now we have millions of law-abiding citizens who have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to collect and enjoy these firearms. The big push from the left is to outlaw them. Folks, the last I knew we had a constitution that forbids government from seizing private property without just compensation. Are you as a taxpayer prepared to steal my property from me, or are you prepared to pay me and millions of other gun owners for my firearms before you take them? As a American, are you prepared to violate our Bill of Rights, which gives the American citizen a right to bear arms, or to let your leaders ignore the Constitution? Doesn’t the fact those in power seem so willing to do just that concern you? We’ll never regain those liberties if we give them away.

America has been attacked by extreme radical Muslims — they are at war with us and it’s just beginning of the terror attacks this nation is going to face in the future. The left-wing politicians are blaming law-abiding American citizens instead of protecting us, yet they want to limit our rights to arm ourselves.

Maine folks pride themselves for having some common sense. Where is the common sense to spend billions of tax dollars disarming honest citizens only to create a new black gun market among criminals and possible terrorists? Disarming law-abiding citizens may not provide the outcome so many are hoping to achieve.

John Hopkins

Manchester