Editor,

How many people have to die in a mass killing before the American people will demand a total ban on the sale and ownership of assault weapons?

You don’t need an assault weapon to kill a deer or to protect yourself from anything less than an armed mob — of which we don’t have many in this country since the taming of the Ku Klux Klan.

What sense does it make that any suicidal maniac who wants to strike a blow for ISIS or white nationalism or homophobia on his way out, can go down to the corner store and openly and legally buy the means to slaughter 49 people and wound 53? What possible justification can you find for that in the Second Amendment?

The day of the Orlando massacre, expert after expert on TV gave advice about how to avoid being shot by a nut with an assault weapon in a public place: When you go into a bar or restaurant or theater, “case the joint” for suspicious-looking characters – anyone who is bundled up on a hot day or sweating on a cold day or carrying a lopsided backpack that could have a long gun in it. If someone starts shooting, run.

That may possibly work for the short term, but a long-term solution for a water leak in your house is not a pair of waders, any more than a long-term solution for a gas leak is a gas mask. It is way past time for Congress to fix the leaks that have put all of us in danger of instant, random death.

Ann Adams

Oak Harbor