LETTER: Killed or awarded a medal? Depends on your politics

Dear Editor,

Roger Dolliver wrote a response to my letter in which he states, “Alex Pretti … was a young man who exercised fatally bad judgement when he carried a firearm into a hostile environment with federal agents.”

Another young man who carried a firearm into a hostile environment was Kyle Rittenhouse. He travelled across state lines with an AR-15 and fatally shot two protestors and wounded a third. He was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for his actions.

The question becomes, who decides if a legally possessed firearm is a threat or an act of heroism?

Alex Pretti was clearly in the act of helping a woman who was pushed to the ground by a government agent. Kyle Rittenhouse actively chased down people that he felt threatened him. Again, who decides?

Free speech is a tenet of America and enshrined in the Constitution. Given the above examples, it depends upon your politics whether or not you are killed or awarded a medal.

As I stated in my earlier letter: Are we a country of laws or a country of men?

If we are a country of laws then the law must be applied uniformly to the extent possible. If we are a country of men where, “I alone can fix it,” as President Trump declared, then democracy is over.

As the Bible states, “Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not.”

Dr. Paul A Haupt

Menominee