At gun shows, I understand that assault weapons are being sold with a $500 premium. And why? Given recent events as well as the insidious progression of our own government becoming everything that our forefathers wanted to avoid when they created our Constitution "of the people, by the people and, for the people," it is not hard to see that the word tyranny is being seared on the minds of people, making then willing to pay a premium for such weapons.

This country is quietly beginning to wake up to the idea that the United States is in line for its own Arab spring. The gun control laws being considered in Washington have nothing to do with Sandy Hook. It is Washington's recognition that people are getting fed up with being held in a form of slavery to our own creation, the U.S. government as well as corrupt governments such as found in the state of Illinois and the county of Saint Clair.

Richard Shelton

Fairview Heights