Gun owners and sportsmen need to speak up for reasonable gun reform. Gun owners are not a monolithic block that supports the NRA. My husband I don’t. When did the organization change from one promoting gun safety and education to one in bed with the extreme right, promoting the paranoid belief that reasonable gun control legislation is an attempt to take away all rights to own guns and an attack on the Second Amendment? Where do the millions of dollars they spend to elect candidates who will do their bidding come from?

Businessinsider.com reports, “Since 2005, the gun industry and its corporate allies have given between $20 million and $52.6 million to it through the NRA Ring of Freedom.”

Only a small part is given directly to candidates, but instead is given to outside groups that pay for ads that can be devastating to candidates who have the courage to promote sensible gun reform.

An A-plus rating by the NRA should be a mark of shame, a reason to refuse to vote for a candidate. We need to vote for candidates who will support common sense gun legislation.

1. Legislate universal background checks with no exceptions for gun shows, private sales, or mail order.

2. Ban AR-15 style weapons and bump stocks.

3. Limit the size of magazines.

4. Raise the age for gun purchases to 21.

We who want common sense legislation don’t want to take away your ability to defend your home or to go hunting. We want to save our children and grandchildren. Will the above stop the slaughter at once? Of course not, but it will be a start and much more effective than a moment of silence.

Priscilla “Penny” Markley

Winthrop