The founders of the NRA (who promoted military and civilian gun safety) would not recognize its current cult of guns. The authors of our Constitution would not recognize the current reading of the Second Amendment. The founders of Pride do not want it to devolve into a gun-toting, tiki-torch parade. Pride is about love.

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Annlinn Kruger, Bar Harbor, Maine

William McLaughlin, the National Rifle Association’s openly gay social media manager, asked why gays are not more supportive of the NRA. Here are two good reasons. First, the NRA consistently blocks all sensible gun-reform legislation. After gunmen mowed down 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.; 14 high school students and three adult staff members in Parkland, Fla.; 58 people at a concert in Las Vegas; and 49 patrons of a gay bar in Orlando, the NRA fought against rules that would ban assault rifles and other devices being used in mass shootings. There are an estimated 393 million guns owned by Americans. Yet in 2017, nearly 40,000 people died from the use of guns. Clearly, more guns do not make us safer.

Second, the NRA spent $30 million in 2016 helping to elect Donald Trump, who is no friend of the gay community. President Trump wants to reverse civil rights laws that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, to allow adoption agencies to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting children and to ban transgender soldiers from serving in the military.

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As a gay man who grew up in Wyoming in a family that hunted, I support the Second Amendment. But I denounce the NRA for its shameful opposition to common-sense gun laws and for spending millions to elect Republican candidates who continue to push discrimination against LGBTQ Americans. Mr. McLaughlin should not expect cheers for the NRA at a D.C. Pride parade anytime soon.

Gary Fisher, Rehoboth Beach, Del.

William McLaughlin completely misread the intentions of the vast majority of people who are in favor of sensible gun regulation. We are not, in general, focused on or hostile toward the Second Amendment. We are, however, very much opposed to the litany of actions taken by a gun-industry lobbying organization, the National Rifle Association, that have had a serious net negative impact on U.S. society.

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The NRA is responsible for the ease with which a person can obtain a gun and for the proliferation of firearms in our society. Contrary to long-standing NRA claims, more guns have not made life in the United States safer; those guns have made life significantly more dangerous. We have the NRA to thank for military-style weapons, high-capacity magazines, suppressors, cop-killer bullets, .50-caliber sniper rifles, lax resale rules and loopholes in background checks. All of these actions help create the dangerous world that the NRA purports to help protect us from.

Mr. McLaughlin should reexamine the collective impact upon society that is a direct result of actions made by his employer, the NRA. This “big deal” issue has little to do with the Second Amendment; it has to do with a powerful political force that regularly values gun and ammunition revenue over human life.