To the editor:

Regarding your Saturday headline story “Gun Showdown Vow” – give me a break. This is a scare tactic following Donald Trump’s assertion that if Hillary Clinton were elected president the Second Amendment would be gone. That is wrong on several counts:

1) Mrs. Clinton has never said she wanted to repeal the Second Amendment, though she is in favor of some stricter gun control laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of felons and people with mental illness.

2) Even if she were so inclined, the president cannot by him/herself repeal an amendment to the Constitution. In fact the president is not involved in the process at any time. According to Article V of the Constitution there are two ways to amend the Constitution: (1) if two-thirds of the state legislatures ask Congress to call a national convention to propose the amendment. This method has never been used; or (2) A two-third supermajority vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives propose the amendment. This is then sent to the states where either three-fourths of the state legislatures approve it or three-fourths of the states approve it through ratifying conventions. This latter method was used to repeal Prohibition.

The likelihood of either of these happening is about as likely as martians landing in the UP!

Please don’t be fooled by empty rhetoric and phony scare tactics. Vote based on the facts.

Ronald Gratz

South Range