To the editor: It is painfully clear how prevalent mis- or disinformation has become in our society, along with how fear has become a means to achieve an objective.

As a near lifelong gun owner and advocate, I firmly believe that responsible gun owners support responsible gun regulations.

It has become painfully obvious that people kill other people using a variety of means, especially in this country, and it is obvious that guns by themselves cannot kill anyone. The simple fact is that people kill people using guns, and generally, although not always, they use guns specifically designed to kill other people. Yes, I know any gun can kill people — so can a knife, a hammer, a bat or any other thing in the hands of someone who desires to kill others.

It is also painfully obvious that individuals have to be clearly troubled to use any means to take another’s life. There are literally millions of mentally ill individuals in this country, many of which the condition is obvious and far more in which it is not. The challenge is to keep those where the condition is not obvious or diagnosed from obtaining a device that has been designed to kill others.

The vast majority of Americans believe that to contain the death and carnage that occurs nearly daily in this country, there needs to be further regulations which enable those who desire to have a gun can, as the Second Amendment provides, while inhibiting those who shouldn’t.

Most gun owners aren’t allowed to obtain or possess many types of firearms already, and there is no legitimate reason an individual needs to own or possess a weapon expressly designed to kill people. If someone wants to kill people using one, they should enlist or volunteer for duty in one of the many areas in the world where armed conflicts are currently underway.

As for trying to instill fear by claiming that if you’re not allowed to own one then you won’t be protected if criminals are the only ones who have guns, that’s another false narrative promoted by the NRA for the sole purpose of promoting gun sales, nothing more.

No one is trying to take away anyone’s Second Amendment rights; they’re just trying to minimize the carnage that occurs daily in this country.

Dennis Croughwell, Dalton