The politics of protecting guns

One of the most common reasons I hear Republicans give for not voting for a Democrat for president is that a Democratic president will take your guns away. I've been hearing that since Eisenhower was in office, and there's proof.

So, Kennedy was elected and he took everybody's guns away. Then Johnson was elected and … oops, he not only gave 648,500 draftees like me guns, he sent us off to Vietnam to make sure we used them.

Then Nixon got elected and he gave everybody their guns back; but he forgot to take away their flashlights, so he had to resign and Ford finished out his term.

Then Carter was elected and he took everybody's guns away, but Reagan gave them all back, and Republicans were safe under Bush 41, too.

So along came Clinton and he took all your guns away … twice. But, not to worry. Bush 43 listened to Cheney and America's best heated up the Middle East with an abundance of firepower to ensure mass destruction.

When Obama got elected, he took everybody's guns away twice like Clinton did.

So now we have Trump. Well, he's not really a Republican; they just elected him as one, but he likes the sound of guns. They make a lot of noise, too. It's the attention that counts.

Paul Stenzel

Lake Villa