To the Journal editor:

I would like to respond to Mr. Holcomb’s claim that I’m a right-wing fringe activist and that our Marquette County officials did the right thing.

Let me begin by saying that I, along with my father, all of my uncles and my son, also are veterans. As such we took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. An oath has no expiration date.

That being said, I do not see anywhere in the Constitution where I am guilty until proven innocent, or what kind of weapon I can or cannot use to defend myself and my family. If you choose to just have a shotgun for your defense that’s fine, that’s your business, but don’t try and dictate what weapon everyone else has to use. That’s their business.

Mr. Holcomb has stated that studies show that gun control laws save lives. Please let me know which ones. Most big cities and all schools have gun control laws put into place, yet where are all the mass shootings taking place? In the gun-free zones! Gun laws do not affect anybody but the law-abiding citizen.

Our Bill of Rights allows us the freedoms that others only dream of. But with past and currently pending legislation our government has been whittling away at our freedoms, and we the people have been letting it happen. It has been spoon-fed to us for years and because it has been in small doses and under the guise of “it’s for your own good” it has been accepted. This is where Mr. Holcomb’s opinion and mine differ.

The fact that there are bad people in the world will not change by taking my rights away. If it gives you a warm and fuzzy, knowing that the government passes a law limiting the rights of law-abiding citizens, but yet does nothing to prevent bad people from doing something bad, what is actually gained?

The Second Amendment wasn’t put in place for home defense, it was put in place for the defense of our country and our way of life. The Second Amendment was put in place to ensure that the government never gets too powerful.

So I will also continue to fight for my Second Amendment rights because when the Second Amendment is gone, the rest will soon follow.

JOHN KOVARIK

Negaunee