Unfortunately, George Smith’s recent column (”Background check initiative complicated, unreasonable,” Sept. 7) feeds the frenzied hyperbole of the NRA’s efforts to defeat Question 3, a reasonably crafted, though admittedly somewhat flawed, statewide effort to close a loophole in the federal law that is itself flawed in keeping firearms out of the wrong hands.

Smith says that criminal use of firearms in Maine isn’t much of a problem compared to the potential inconvenience imposed on law-abiding sportsmen. Until one has experienced the murder of a son, as I have, you probably can’t understand how that one event, however statistically unlikely, can alter your life.

There is criminal use of firearms in Maine. If there was only one firearm-related murder in Maine this year and it was your son, how would you feel? What do opponents of Question 3 suggest as an alternative to this common-sense measure that only seeks to protect the public?

Bill Horner

Bar Harbor