Respect my service by curbing gun violence

An open letter to Congressman Peter Roskam:

Thank you for representing the citizens of the Sixth Congressional District.

As a Vietnam veteran who abhors gun violence, I am writing to ask that you to take another look at your past support for NRA-endorsed legislation.

When I served with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, I carried a version of the AR-15 now easily available even to those who are mentally and psychologically challenged. This rifle is a weapon of war, pure and simple. It was developed to help protect the lives of American soldiers, not for target practice or for sport, or for carrying into our schools and onto our streets to kill and maim our loved ones.

I'm not advocating taking away anyone's guns. I'm asking that, like Israel, we make guns more difficult to get, using common sense limits, such as mental health screening, including accessing the records of the Veteran's Administration.

Yes, we need to secure our schools. But we also need to make it safer for our children to even get to their schools. Ask the kids in Chicago's Englewood neighborhoods if that's possible today. Tragically, it's not.

And what's to stop the next mentally challenged person with a gun of any type from shooting up the schools and streets of the Sixth District? Not much. Not enough.

Please look past the threats of the NRA and support common sense limits on gun ownership. Please represent the views of many citizens and voters in your district who think like I do.

If you want to thank me for my service, this is the best way to do it.

Robert E. Gorman, Jr.

Lake Barrington