It doesn’t come as any surprise that top bureaucrats like Massengill have his attitude.

The power to regulate, just as the power to tax, is the power to destroy. In this case, a long-standing goal of power-hungry government functionaries has always been to limit, harass, and eventually eliminate the right of citizens to defend themselves both from criminal individuals and criminal governments.

Guns *should* be readily available for purchase from willing sellers, without interference from the state.

I favor the Libertarian position of removing all restrictions on lawful gun ownership.

If there are individuals who cannot be trusted to bear arms, then they should not be allowed to roam loose in society. Period. Controlling *them* has nothing to do with regulating peaceful and honest individuals.

Retired Col. Massengill has a attitude problem. Since he is retired, he is a has been and of no importance.

He can lie about firearms all he wants. He will never stop me from buying a firearm, or carrying one!

Colonel Massengil, although obviously not in agreement with the opinions (including mine) of the majority of Virginians concerning the owning, purchasing, and selling of firearms within the boundaries of our wonderful Commonwealth, does have the right, as we all do, of stating his personal views on the subject. We loyal, law-abiding Virginians, who have (luckiiy) never met the man while he was performing his duties as a Virginia State Police officer, must take into consideration what this individual has seen during his long career as a police officer.

I don’t know if Colonel Massengil “came up from the ranks” or not. My guess is that he did, either in Virginia or another state. This means he’s worked everything from “Traffic”, which I have heard from some police officers that, although a very needed post, is by some officers considered a “lowest on the totem pole of postings, to homicide, and everything in between. And in those many years of service must have seen things that make even seasoned officers “toss their cookies”, especially in the aftermath of a shooting. The memories of victims shot in the face at close range and the like, just like the veterans of World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan-some of whom come home affected to the point of acquiring PTSD because of similar things they have seen-must linger in the minds of police officers like Colonel Massengil, usually first on the scene. This in itself is reason to create a negative opinion of guns in general. My father-in-law, a highly decorated veteran of WWII, spent over 4 years in the European Theater of Operations with the 1st Division, “The Big Red One”. He was in every major battle of the war in the ETO and definitely saw more than his share of killing, death, and utter destruction-caused by EVERY caliber of firearm-from 9mm pistol to the 16-inch shells launched by our battleships used to “soften up” beaches or islands prior to landing our troops. Like Omaha Beach on the Normandy coastline of France, which as luck would have it, was the beach he had been assigned to prior to the invasion-lucky him.

In any case, as many soldiers did after the war, he brought home two “war trophies”, called “souvenirs” by some. They were two 9mm Luger pistols, handed over to him by the Nazi commanders of units that surrendered to him and his men. Several years later, after the war was over, he took the pistols apart as if to clean them. Instead, he threw them in the trash, never to be seen again. I think it was a statement-one saying that he was washing his hands of all the kiling he had seen-and done-in the war. I doubt though, that even after all these years-he is now 92 years old, and still “with it”-that those memories will ever leave him. Those pistols, if he had kept them, would be worth a pretty penny now-to say the least. But he doesn’t care. All they represented was a tyrannical regime whose only purpose was to subjugate the world-at any cost-and to make it bow to the wishes of a madman. A madman, one of whose first acts was to require the registration of guns and their owners, so that at any time he could locate that owner and relieve him of his firearms, thereby leaving those who opposed him defenseless, and subject to his every whim. And that’s what happened. If it weren’t for my father-in-law, and all those like him who volunteered to fight for what was RIGHT-those things that were, and ARE reflected in our (I believe) God- inspired Constitution and Bill of Rights-we might be speaking a different language now, here in the States. Speaking of which, if we don’t pass a LAW declaring ENGLISH the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA-AND SOON-this country will, like the tower of Babel, come to a screeching halt-because of the confusion arising out of the phenomenon known as “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”-a phenomenon that has for the last two decades run roughshod over our beloved CONSTITUTION of these UNITED STATES, slowly but surely nibbling away at the rights of every TAX PAYING, LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZEN-all under the heading of “THE LAW OF PRECEDENT”.

Returning to the subject at hand, the men who fought and died for the Allied Forces in the Second World War, fought for FREEDOM-freedom from the TYRANNY of ANY government to intervene in the life of the INDIVIDUAL-FOREVER! FOREVER! That includes NOW! AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THAT FREEDOM, THE KEY TO KEEPING IT, INCLUDES THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION!

The administrations of the last forty years have turned the United States of America into a political and economic house of cards, all the while sending the future leaders of all aspects of life in the United States-politics, economics, education, business, you name it, to a war in the Middle East, which can NEVER be won, to be used as CANNON FODDER-just ask the former Soviets, whose country is now ruled by a mafia, headed by a former head of the Soviet Secret Police.

So, back to Colonel Massengil. Being a Virginia State Trooper, my most revered and respected police force, he in the history of his career has seen death and destruction-some of it probably caused by small arms-if you discount the bloodbath caused by drivers every year on the roads of our beloved Commonwealth. I’m sure he has seen accidents where it was difficult to tell where pieces of the car ended, and pieces of the occupants began. I have done enough ride-alongs to contest to that myself. Why he holds the views he does is his business, and must have some logical foundation. I give him the benefit of the doubt on that, not knowing him personally. But he is exercising his right to voice his opinion-a right guaranteed by the FIRST AMENDMENT to the Constitution. The men in WWII who fought and died for freedom did so for that as well. All I see rebuking what he believes is a bunch of low-brow name calling. And as a defender of the Constitution myself, I find that disgusting. You who reply in favor of the Second Amendment do so politely and with respect-please. If you don’t not only are you showing your lack of intellect, you are, in effect spitting on the graves and efforts of those who fought and/or died for FREEDOM. Show some respect, for them as well as for Colonel Massengil, who I would bet put his life on the line to defend Virginians during his career as a Virginia State Trooper. God bless America. And God bless Colonel Massengil.