To the Editor-

I wore a shirt to the sheriff candidate forum last week with the photos of the three lawmen murdered in Las Vegas last month. It read: “All three of the victims of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas were armed. Tell me again about how the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” This indicates which issue is a priority for me in the sheriff race.

One candidate was absent from the forum; I won’t be endorsing him.

Regarding gun control, Mike Lukas said he supports universal background checks, done in a cost effective way, as do 90 percent of Americans. Kevin Sorenson said the laws are fine as they stand. Jim Grubba then said he agreed with both of them, even though they had just said two entirely different things. On banning 10-round magazine clips, Lukas supported this reform. Sorenson said he did not. Grubba said the law is fine as is.

Sorenson said guns are not the problem, rather crazy people are. He described a baseball bat attack he had recently witnessed in Plover.

Well, he’s got his battery plugged in backwards. You don’t throw bullets with bare hands, do you? It takes a gun. John Kennedy wasn’t baseball batted to death. Neither were the 20 little kids in Connecticut. Next time we have a mass murder by baseball batting, we might have to re-assess.

The sheriff is tasked with keeping us safe, is he not? I say without gun control, the sheriff is giving the illusion of safety. There exists a huge gaping hole in the fabric of our country. We were asleep, but not any longer. We will not rest until strict gun laws are passed. Without a strong stand on this issue, a promise of safekeeping goes unfulfilled.

Two of the candidates are passing the buck. An urgent oath is reduced to lazy execution. That is why I am endorsing Mike Lukas for Portage County Sheriff. Please join me.

Jody Hurrish

Stevens Point