Editor,

Reflecting on the Constitution and Fred Wilferth’s May 3 letter, I’m reminded of one use for guns: shooting whiny fish in a barrel (metaphorically speaking).

One thoughtful interpretation of the Second Amendment is that it has to do with letting men (not women or slaves) take home their muskets and musket balls – as they did after the Revolutionary War. This was so the newly formed and “still figuring things out” government (i.e. corrupt elected officials) wouldn’t have to buy and supply the weapons if the Brits returned – as they did in 1812.

Fred’s comparison of knives to assault weapons is as childish as it sounds: 60 people weren’t killed and another 413 weren’t wounded in Las Vegas in 2017 by a man welding a knife. And none of the hundreds of shootings at our schools – where people’s children, siblings and friends have been murdered – were done by deranged men welding box cutters.

Obviously, Fredrick needs a refresher course on how a civilized nation should act:

Just over a year ago, ten Americans were killed – shot – by a man using an AR-15-style assault weapon, simply because of the color of their skin.

If Fred is as concerned about our nation as he is about his own “rights,” he should be speaking out against white supremacy, which motivated an 18-year old man-child to murder our fellow Americans. Fred should be speaking out against the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and people like Tucker Carlson who promote it.

But we don’t see Mr. Wilferth writing letters about how these ten people’s “rights” were violated and their lives needlessly taken. Nor do we see him offering his “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of the 380 school shootings that have happened since the Columbine massacre in 1999.

David Freed

Clinton