Shooters, collectors ignored

“Defend Freedom, Defeat Obama”; cover, November 2012 “American Rifleman.” I shrugged, another paranoid polemic from the National Rifle Association. After four years of no new gun laws, I felt safe.

Then came the tragedy in Connecticut. President Barack Obama’s needed excuse to reveal his hostility toward guns.

I am a gun owner, and I am unhappy that my classification of gun ownership is always left out when gun legislation is presented. I, and maybe the majority of gun owners, am a shooter and collector. I do not hunt.

The New York police commissioner said, “Less than 2 percent of all shooting crimes are committed with an assault rifle.” Guest on Bill Maher: “An AR-15 is ‘scary,’ and that’s why gun haters focus on it.”

Not targeted: the Ruger .223 Rancher. It operates exactly the same as the AR-15; same caliber; high rate of accurate fire; takes a large-capacity magazine; and comes in full automatic, but it looks just like the Ruger 10/22, the most popular .22 rifle on the market.

Gun shows are for collectors and shooters, not hunters. They shop at Cabela’s. Most Republicans and many Democrats are gun owners, so there’s hope. Background checks, OK; registration, no.

T.J. Wolferman

Coeur d’Alene