Dear Editor,
The same week the survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting graduated from high school, a 6-3 divided Supreme Court struck down a rule banning bump stocks. Moved to action by the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert that killed 58 and wounded over 500, the ATF under Trump issued the rule in 2017. The six conservative justices apparently believe that experts in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms aren’t qualified to decide whether or not adding a bump stock to a semi-automatic rifle REALLY puts it in the category of what the original lawmakers meant when they banned machine guns. So now Congress must pass a NEW law every time some new gadget that allows semiautomatic weapons to fire at speeds rivaling those of automatic rifles? Give us a break!!! These are the same conservative justices who killed Roe vs Wade, are butchering the voting rights act, ruminating over whether Trump has total immunity for his multiple indictments for crimes against the country. I could go on. My point is, Trump has already appointed three of the current bench and if he is is reelected, could appoint two more, as Alito and Thomas approach retirement age. Come November, remember that your vote will outlive you through the Supreme Court and could haunt your sons, daughters and grandchildren.
Steve Swoope