The Day

Keep extreme guns in military, police hands

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“Don’t take a knife to a gun fight.” So goes the cliché from some notable action movies. Isn’t that what President Trump is saying when he suggests school teachers should carry concealed pistols? All of the school shootings have been by people with military assault rifles. What good is a pistol against a high-velocity military rifle that travels substantia­lly further than a pistol bullet and leaves an exit wound the size of grapefruit after it has chewed up and splintered body parts? The police and military use these assault rifles because the bad guys have them. Do we want teachers to have these assault weapons, which fire multiple rounds per second, in our schools? What’s next, hand grenades, tanks?

All types of military assault rifles should be banned except for the police and military. These are not hunting rifles but weapons designed for mass destructio­n. Anyone already in possession of one should not be allowed to remove it from their own property. If they do they should be arrested and fined and the gun confiscate­d. Don’t let a school teacher with a concealed pistol go up against a killer with an assault rifle and don’t arm teachers with assault weapons.

This is not the Wild West. Leave the job to law enforcemen­t. Marshall Chiaraluce Mystic

Thoughts and feedback about the Opinion pages can be emailed to Editorial Page Editor Paul Choiniere at p.choiniere@theday.com or by using his Twitter feed, @Paul_Choiniere. He can also be reached by phone at (860) 701-4306.

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