To the editor:

Let me tell you a story. The military found that many men did not fire their rifles. The widely used weapon was the M1. This rifle used a 30-06 bullet that had quite a kick to the shoulder when fired. It also had a steel butt plate so that end could be used also as a weapon. Firing the weapon not only gave away your position, it would really do a job on one’s shoulder.

The military needed a new weapon to fix this problem, so long came the .223 round. The projectile is just a little larger than the standard .22 caliber round. The weapon that uses it is now the standard round for the military. Although a little larger than the standard .22 caliber, the case is very large, similar to the look of a .30-06 or .308 caliber, giving a very high muzzle velocity or speed. The only reason for the .223 is to wound or kill people. That is what it was designed for.

The bullet is too light for deer, bears or other large game animals. It has no use except target shooting or killing people. Due to the fact that the recoil, kick, is so weak it is perfect for any 90-pound weakling to fire 30, 40, 100 rounds without any trouble with shoulder bruising or control. This is a perfect round for the assault weapons being sold throughout the country. When I see a U.S. Congressman comparing his shotgun to an assault-type weapon, we are all in trouble.

When they found the (Chevrolet) Corvair cat was unsafe at any speed, nobody said to take cars off the road, only that one. No one, including myself, says take all guns off the road, only assault-type weapons. Gun advocates say guns don’t kill, they say people kill. But assault weapons sure make it’s easy to kill many very quickly.

James Correia

210 Furey Ave.

Tiverton