Letter submitted 5-30-2022
Thank You Judy Davis
As a dedicated voter, I found encouragement in correspondent Judy Davis’ letter “Light a Candle”.
We have suffered with uninspiring leadership at a national level over the past four administrations and eight congressional sessions. Red lines crossed with no consequences, instigating seditious riots over false claims, and overspending creating out of control inflation are just a few possible headlines from a very unfortunate long list of disappointments.
Yet where are inspiring national leaders to be found willing to endure relentless 24/7/365 intrusive scrutiny, deceptive campaign messaging and blatant bias from a rudderless fourth estate?
How do we find electable national leadership candidates with the courage to truly bring a proven bipartisan foundation to the task? Leaders representing with equal respect those who pay no taxes, those who pay most of the taxes, and everyone in between. Where are the leaders who will emulate FDR, Eisenhower and Kennedy, elected by the greatest generation, as well as Reagan by the Boomers?
Unfortunately it will take more than lighting a candle to return greatness to the Whitehouse. I will need to read Ms. Davis’ letter every day to keep the faith.
Curt Rasmussen
Glen Allen VA
Letter Submitted 7-12-2022
Once and for All
Once and for all, AR (as in AR-15) does not stand for “Assault Rifle” or “Automatic Rifle”. The A represents the name of the first manufacturer (Armalite) of this style of rifle.
The AR-style rifle that a typical American can legitimately buy in a gun shop is a semi-automatic, single shot (a single trigger pull – a single round fired) firing mechanism. True assault rifles typically have an automatic fire option (a single trigger pull – multiple rounds fired). These weapons are difficult for the typical citizen to own. Legal purchase of an automatic rifle takes months to a year to complete the approval process and costs several thousand dollars.
Obviously there is criminal access and no amount of regulation can seemingly curtail criminal access in this country as well as around the world. Military and law enforcement agencies are typically authorized for automatic weapons. The federal agency ATF controls access per federal regulation.
So please stop calling AR-15s, AR-10, etc. “Assault Rifles”. You are further misleading the poorly informed and stigmatizing a perfectly legitimate sports rifle that is no different in its firing mechanism than any other semi-automatic sports rifle legally used by millions of Americans for a variety of purposes, including hunting, competition shooting, personal or family protection and as a hedge against tyranny.
So, for those of you who continue to call AR-style rifles “assault rifles”, you are revealing your ignorance about the world of firearms thus diminishing the veracity of any point you are attempting to make. If you wish to continue to opine about the illegal use of sporting rifles by the criminally insane, do so in a fashion that gives the appearance of knowledge and thus a hint of credibility.
Curt Rasmussen
Glen Allen VA
The Willow 