I disagree with your opinion piece of Aug. 7, 2019 – “What is the underlying cause of mass killings?” You don’t think that stricter gun-control laws would do much good. Well, I don’t agree. And you are concerned that banning assault weapons would infringe upon the civil liberties “enjoyed” by all Americans. I don’t think “all” Americans connect “enjoying” civil liberties with assault weapons. Last of all, you predict that the “killings will continue.” Since our leaders can only agree to remember us in their thoughts and prayers, you may be right.

As long as Congress continues to receive huge donations from the NRA; and as long as Congress is afraid to go against the wishes of the NRA and gun legislation; and as long as President Trump enjoys the backing of the NRA; and as long as Mitch McConnell refuses to even bring it to the floor of the Senate, it doesn’t look good for any type of legislation on the buying and selling of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Congress has the reputation of being a do-nothing Congress and this one is no exception. By the time they travel two days to get to/from Washington, they only have three days to deliberate and then there are phone calls to be made and money to be raised for the next election and there are all those lobbyists clamoring for benefits. So not much time is left to do the people’s business – ordinary people that are just trying to make ends meet and pay for health care.

You would think that the slaughter of 31 people in Dayton and El Paso would be important enough for Mitch McConnell to call back the Senate from their summer recess and work with the Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill that would deal with the proliferation of guns in this country. Of course, Congress has done nothing for years and the problem continues to grow as our president spews hatred at all those he doesn’t like thus fomenting even more hatred from his base. Then again, Mitch McConnell is in lock step with President Trump, and his wife, Elaine Chao, is Secretary of Transportation so that explains that. (So much for the three independent branches of government). Of course, the Republicans want to wait for passions to cool so they can again refuse to acknowledge the fact that we have a big problem in this country with the easy access of assault weapons whose primary purpose is to kill as many people as fast as possible inflicting massive damage and even when law enforcement comes within minutes, it is still too late.

Therefore, I disagree with your Aug. 7 opinion piece. We don’t need more study. We need a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – for a start.

Carol Lazear Mitchell

Marietta