This week a 22-year-old man carried a loaded semi-automatic rifle into a grocery store in Charlottesville, Va., terrifying shoppers and prompting 911 calls. When the police arrived the man was not arrested because he hadn't shot anyone, therefore no crime was committed. He was exercising his Second Amendment rights. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture? Does this mean if someone had noticed the heavily armed man walk into the theater in Aurora (or the school in Newtown) no one could have stopped him -- not even the police -- because he hadn't shot anyone yet? Is this the kind of country you want your children to (hopefully) grow up in? Please contact Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, and Congressman Rick Larsen, as well as your representatives in Olympia, asking them to support a ban on semi-automatics. There are gun owners amidst us who don't have the common sense nor respect for & "the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" of their fellow citizens. With gun ownership comes responsibility. We are unfortunately experiencing a run of irresponsible, provocative gun owners. I demand to be protected from them.

Mira Kamada

Bellingham