Editor;
I recently attended a Trump rally. Yes, I was proud to carry a Trump sign supporting our president. I was however amazed at the amount of people who flipped us off while driving by, amazed at the hateful glares we received!
At 68 years old, I’ve seen this country go from God-fearing to a godless nation. I’ve seen hate grow and love wane. I’ve experienced the loss of friends simply due to the fact that I’m a conservative Christian.

When I was young, if you liked John F. Kennedy, you voted for him. Your friends might rib you about your choice, but there was no violence due to that decision. Support Nixon as your candidate, and it was the same thing. Your friends might teasingly give you a hard time, but it was just that, “teasing.” Your opinion was “your opinion,” and you, as a free American citizen, were entitled to it.
Today, for the most part, we have a two-party system, but one party becomes violent if their ways aren’t met, their ideas not accepted. That is the same party that insists on tolerance from everyone, but have you noticed, that tolerance rarely applies to them?

Why is it that if conservatives, don’t like meat, they don’t eat meat? If they don’t like driving gas powered automobiles, they walk, ride bikes or opt for the electric vehicles. If they don’t care for riding horses down main street, they simply won’t do it. If conservatives don’t like guns, they won’t buy one. Unfortunately, there is another side to this coin, a darker side. There is a group of people who preach tolerance yet are the least tolerant of all. They are the liberals, or progressives as they like to be called today.

If they don’t like eating meat, they want to ban it from the grocery shelves and outlaw it all together. If they are against gas powered vehicles, they want to deprive everyone the right own and operate one. If they are against guns, they want to take all guns away from everyone! Where is your tolerance in others’ choices?

Now I’m not trying to turn this editorial into a gun control issue, but that is the perfect analogy for my argument. You have to be a special kind of stupid to believe that if guns are totally outlawed, they will disappear from the face of the earth. Imagine this, Bert and Barney are about to rob a bank, when they see a sign in the window, “No guns allowed.” Do you really believe the dynamic duel will turn around and look for another bank from which to make their illegal withdrawal?”

For proof of how well gun control works, or doesn’t work, all we need to do is to turn back to that horrible shooting, July 20, 2012, in our own state, and the city of Aurora. The killer admitted that he didn’t choose the Cinemark theater because of its close proximity to his apartment, no, the reason was much darker, far more evil than that. He looked for a theater that didn’t allow guns, fully knowing that he wouldn’t encounter any armed resistance. Twelve people lost their lives due to the fact that the theater owner didn’t allow guns in his place of business.

Gun control is not about crime prevention, it’s about “control” To quote Allen West, a U.S. representative from Florida, “A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject.”
So, to our liberal, progressive friends, I ask this. Before you try and shove your ideas down our throats, try to force your way of life upon us, do your homework! Research those countries, cities and states where there is strict gun control. We Westcliffians like our freedom. The same freedoms that many of our own citizens fought for in years past. We like making our own decisions, driving the car of our choice, eating what we enjoy and for the most part, we are a peaceful people.

If you don’t like our way of life, our laws, may I suggest you move back to where your ways of life are working so very well. Places like Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and dozens of other cities that have staunch gun control. So, to my liberal friends I say, “practice what you preach,” TOLERANCE!
I have the God-given right to live as I please, until that right affects another, then I, not them, must adjust.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, eat meat, and drive gas powered Ford pickups. I like Westcliffe the way it is! Oh, and in closing, I actually do believe in total gun control, I use both hands.

Jim Wilde, Custer County