I read all the negative comments on assault weapons and there seems to be a big misconception as to what they really are.

By definition an assault weapon can be switched from semiautomatic to full automatic with a flip of a switch. What's being sold on the open market are not assault weapons but a rifle no different than a .22 rifle. To ban these weapons would mean banning all weapons and leave everyone defenseless. Psychos will still get guns off the books.

While I have no use for some of these guns, I do have semi guns for hunting and personal protection. Relieving us of our personal protection would only make the situation worse.

In the old West everyone carried a gun. While the movies made gunfights look exciting, most never happened. Check your history books.

When a law-abiding citizen is carrying, crime is down. I sympathize with the victims of Connecticut and New York but the gun didn't kill, the psychopath did. I'm just saying.

Tom McNaughton

Millstadt