Columbia, SC — I guess some people, like Stan Frick (“Change culture of guns, violence,” Jan. 31), are naive enough to think that we will all be safe if our lawmakers will “support the 98.6 percent of Americans who are not members of the NRA and protect innocent citizens from gun violence” by banning the production of assault weapons.

Besides the fact that the majority of U.S. gun owners aren’t members of the NRA ,any reasonable thinking citizen should realize that banning assault rifles is not a solution. The Sandy Hook perpetrator could have committed his ungodly acts with any weapon created in the past 100 years with the identical achingly sad results.

It is facile and human to vilify a certain type of weapon so the public can rally against something seemingly concrete .This is so much easier than facing the deeper issue, which is not so concrete: the motivation to take innocent lives that resides in the mind of the mentally ill person who commits an atrocity.

Can our lawmakers protect us from the evil that resides in some men’s hearts? If not, then ask yourself how much safer you really would be with one type of rifle owned by more than a million responsible citizens outlawed. Is banning any type of gun really a solution or just a quick emotional rallying point that masks the deeper problems our society faces?

Chip McPheeters

Columbia