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When will Republican politicians show concern for the lives of little children recently shot and killed in their classrooms, women shot at their church, people killed and others wounded in a cemetery, a surgeon and three others shot and killed at a medical office and the many killed at a supermarket in Buffalo?
The United States has had more than 300 mass shootings this year. No other country nor even the total of many countries has had this many. Most Republican politicians have opposed a ban on high-capacity magazines, background checks, red flag laws and a repeal of the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from legal liability if their weapons are used in violence.
I grew up hunting and have several hunting rifles so I am not against owning and using guns. But, it is time to stop the killing of school children by allowing 18-year-old children to purchase a military-style weapon and then go on a killing spree. I cannot see any reason for high-capacity magazines. Gun manufacturers should not be free from legal liability.
Where is the leadership of Sen. Susan Collins on this issue, beyond the small steps that have recently been taken? Where are the vast majority of Republican politicians on the issue of simple straight forward gun control measures? They are responsible for not allowing any meaningful regulations of military-style weapons on a national level for many years.
We need to ask these important questions to one another and to those who represent us.
The Rev. Charles J. Stephens
Blue Hill