Letter: Americans are traumatized and terrorized by gun violence

Gun violence is the No. 1 killer of our youth today. Think about it, the No. 1 killer of our young people are guns. Not disease, not accidents — guns.

Surviving victims of gun violence, their friends and their families are traumatized by mass shootings and gun violence. With this background, our elected politicians can’t agree to take meaningful steps to protect us from this scourge. So what did they agree to do?

An 18-year-old can still buy an AR15, as long as their police record is clean. More money to encourage states to pass “red flag” laws, more restrictions on convicted abusive boyfriends from owning a gun and more money for mental health care. These are all good first steps, but where is the legal age of 21 to buy an assault weapon? Or better yet, where is the assault weapons ban? If people understood what damage an assault weapon does to human flesh they’d be banned tomorrow. A hunter doesn’t kill a deer with an assault weapon. They’re weapons of war and shouldn’t be allowed on our streets. Hunters need to stand up and speak out in favor of sensible guns laws.

It’s way past time for our elected officials, both state and federal, to publicly tell us what side of this issue they are on, and we should vote accordingly.

Phil Heil

Huntley