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Letter: Whose ears is Mike Lee trying to save?

(J. Scott Applewhite | AP file photo)  Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, leaves a Republican lunch meeting and heads to the chamber where he voted to reject President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southwest border, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 14, 2019.

(J. Scott Applewhite | AP file photo) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, leaves a Republican lunch meeting and heads to the chamber where he voted to reject President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southwest border, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 14, 2019.

Anyone who has been paying attention lately knows that Utah Sen. Mike Lee supports the legality and use of sound suppressors on firearms. He says that these devices "protect the hearing of the shooters.”

As it turns out, one of the largest manufacturers of these “silencers” is one of his donors. Gotta support your people, right Mike?

Someone has to tell me what possible use, benefit or value a silencer has in this otherwise gun-crazy country? In the recent active shooter case in Virginia Beach, victims didn't recognize warning gunshots due to a suppressor being used by the shooter. It is not hard to conclude that some of these 12 lives could have been saved with typical warning shots.

Whose ears were you trying to save in this instance, Sen. Lee?

Trying to nationally deregulate silencers as “ear protection” is absurd. Can someone please tell me what other use these assassin-like devices may have? These poor shooters must be aware that a pair of ear plugs is much less expensive than a silencer.

Paul Kleiber, Salt Lake City

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