Be careful who you vote for

Dear Editor,

If you love your guns, be careful who you vote for in November.  While “liberals” often get a bad rap on gun control issues, authoritarian governments tend to have very strict gun laws on the left and the right ends the political spectrum.

In Viktor Orban’s Hungary, the ownership and use of firearms are legal but highly regulated, and civilians are not allowed to own assault style weapons. Citizens must go through a stringent process to obtain a gun license:

Applicants must be adults with no criminal record. Hungarians need to pass theoretical and practical exams, as well as physical and mental evaluations. They need to pass background checks and training classes as well. Licenses are issued by the police.

Authoritarian leaders also have a much easier time enacting these laws due to the nature of their power.  Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law raising the minimum age to own firearms from 18 to 21 on June 28th 2021, just 5 weeks after a May 21st school shooting in Kazan.

Remember that it was President Trump’s administration that banned bump stocks in November 2018, just over a year after a man used the devices in a Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017, bypassing the legislative process.  

Project 2025, and its short version on Trump’s election website, Agenda 47, detail the Conservative plan of sweeping reforms that will remove the built-in checks and balances in our government, and grant the President unprecedented powers.  The recent Supreme Court ruling that the president cannot be indicted or charged for crimes committed in the course of “official acts” is the first step in this.

An authoritarian government may end up being much more than we expect, with presidential powers unlike we have seen in this country since we overthrew King George. Be careful what you wish for in November.

Lana Caywood

Platteville, WI