Something about Lazarus' letter struck me as odd. The opening line is "man the barricades shouted the students in the movie hit, Les Mis. Unfortunately their muskets fired only a single shot before reloading. Most of the students died." Well I bet the students would have liked to have had a repeating rifle at that time. Multiple rounds can stop multiple attackers. Now I ask what is an assault weapon? Does Washington even have a definition? Many Americans have forgot that a single-shot firearm was an assault weapon in the Civil War. It was used to assault the enemy. Later in history, repeating rifles were used against the Native Americans, then semi-auto used in Korea and finally fully auto used in Vietnam. What is the one thing in common on these firearms - all can be considered assault weapons. That is exactly what the Democrats in Washington are targeting - all firearms owned by Americans. For this reason, I am not willing to trust the elected politicians with a so-called assault weapons ban.

Todd Nelson, Silverthorne