BRATTLEBORO — I'm responding as one of the “faceless” members of GunSense VT to Bob DePino's and Eddie Cutler's respective assertions [Letters, Oct. 26].
As Michael Corleone says in The Godfather, “It's not personal, it's strictly business.”
So I ask both of you to stop attacking Ann Braden (“lies, lies, lies”) with perverted logic and outdated arguments.
I know Ann Braden. She's a caring mother of two, a loving, inspired teacher of children in Brattleboro, and a tireless advocate for public safety.
Back to business: the most recent VPR poll puts Vermonters who support universal background checks and closing the gun-show loophole at 84 percent. The will of the people will be done, eventually. Employing faulty logic and a no-compromise approach in a democracy puts your views on the wrong side of history on this issue.
While it might be true that “Vermont is the safest place in America” when looking at numbers of gun violence, an accurate assessment would take in per-capita, and that would disprove your assertion.
Between 1994 and 2014 in Vermont, 57 percent of domestic-violence homicides and 77 percent of the murder/suicides were committed with guns. If universal background checks and enhanced gun-safety measures would save even one life of a potential victim of domestic abuse or a teen contemplating suicide, how does that infringe on your rights?
For the last time: The state of Vermont, the U.S. government, and GunSenseVT are not interested in taking away your gun(s) - just that you use them safely, like your motor vehicle, which I assume is inspected and registered by the state.
While Cutler, a candidate for state representative, attacks one of the “out-of-state supporters” of GunSense VT - Michael Bloomberg - as an “egotistical billionaire,” he neglects to inform readers that the billionaire Koch Brothers of Kansas support your campaigns.
Next time you run for public office, I suggest running on a platform of public service and ideas of positive change rather than simply trying to tear down the wide-ranging, good work of dedicated legislators like Mike Mrowicki and David Deen.