The Aug. 1 letter by Leigh Bullion (“An error in judgment by Angus King“), urging Sen. Angus King to retire for King’s admitted “mistake” in voting along with every Republican senator (with zero Democrats and independents, except King himself) to confirm ultra-conservative and anti-abortion Josh Divine to a lifetime federal judgeship is right on the mark. The 81-year-old King’s mistake votes are adding up.

King has yet to offer an explanation for his Oct. 25, 2023 (morning of the Robert Card mass shooting) vote for the Kennedy Amendment (passed into law 53-45 with King voting with every Republican senator), which limits the VA’s ability to notify the FBI when a veteran has been deemed, by medical professionals, as mentally incompetent or incapable to manage their own affairs for the FBI to place those individuals on the gun no-purchase list for their protection and that of others.

Six thousand veterans per year commit suicide, about 71% by gun. At least 31% of all mass shootings are committed by veterans. Veterans comprise 6.2% of the nation’s population. Thus, veterans are five times more likely to commit a mass shooting than non-veterans.

By any logical standard, unless someone is pro-suicide and pro-murder, King’s vote for the Kennedy Amendment was another mistake. How many more King mistakes must we suffer until he terms out in five and a half years at age 86? It is past time for Sen. King to retire.

Carl Wilcox
Minot