Blood of innocents waters tree of gun liberty

I am furious and nauseous beyond belief, and have been since the news of the shooting in Florida started coming out. I have called both of U.S. Rep. Hultgren's numbers and lambasted his failure to do anything, laying the blood of these innocents directly at his and his complicit obstructionist colleagues' feet. I am sick unto death with "Second Amendment rights." This amendment is an anachronism suited for the 18th century, not the 21st, and to argue otherwise is completely specious.

The "second amenders" often state the Tree of Liberty must be nourished with the blood of patriots, but I only see the blood of innocent victims - elementary schoolchildren, concert goers, people celebrating a weekend night, students in class pursuing their life's dream, parishioners in their churches - as the ones whose blood is being spilled on this infamous tree's roots.

This has got to stop. No one else should have to join my associate's group of survivors (who were victims of the Northern Illinois University shooting 10 years ago), nor leave only survivors to mourn their deaths.

Enough already.

Gary A. Oltmans

Gurnee