A Jan. 29 letter to the editor of the Addison Independent, by John Burton of Cornwall, unfairly and unjustly criticizes Rev. Barnaby Feder, minister of Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Middlebury.
The most egregious intent of the letter was to equate and accuse Rev. Feder of sympathizing with the Nazi regime of World War. The Nazi war horrors rank among the worst of all crimes against humanity in all history. We can’t think of anything more horrible than to associate someone with the Nazi atrocities that are fresh in our minds on this, the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
We can all have a cordial debate where we offer our opinions and information without maligning our fellow citizens. Rev. Feder is offering his side of the effort to keep guns from the hands of those who, under federal law, shouldn’t have them, by supporting background checks for most private sales in Vermont under the exact same requirements already in place for licensed gun dealers. And he has much support throughout Vermont.
The proposed legislation does not infringe on Second Amendment rights. And there are statistics about gun violence that will be addressed in another letter.
In the meantime let us have an amenable conversation about the proposed legislation and call off the innuendo to horrible things of the past.
Paul and Frances Stone, Orwell; Robert and Sheila House, Middlebury; David Durgin, Bristol; Virginia Warren Frost, Middlebury; Richard and Artley Wolfson, Middlebury; Ann Ross, Middlebury; Tom and Ginny Moser; Cornwall; Kathleen Kaster, Middlebury; Andre and Carrie Mol, Brandon; Christine Murphy, Shoreham