During a meeting concerning gun control bills, Alzona handed out leaflets depicting three anti-gun Democrats in Nazi uniforms saying, "Democrats have a final solution for all of Maryland's gun owners."

As a Democrat, who is against personal handguns, I find this cartoon offensive in that it compares his opponents to an awful group of people, who killed many innocent people.

Kevin Chin, Bethesda

Let's step back and look at the incident dispassionately. Has Augustus Alzona committed a crime? No. Is the flier anti-Semitic? No. Not if you understand what it is saying. The flier is a political statement reflecting, not anti-Semitism, by anti-totalitarianism.

It has been said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. In 1939 Nazi Germany, the beginning of the Holocaust took place. It is remembered as "Krystalnacht." In events leading up to that night, the then-legitimate government of Germany enacted legislation that first registered all firearms and identified all firearm owners. Later, those same firearms were confiscated using the lists from the registration process. This enabled the Nazis to undertake the destruction of Jewish businesses and attack German citizens of Jewish heritage.

The three members of the Maryland General Assembly were, and probably will be again, sponsors of a bill that called for the registering of firearms and the licensing, fingerprinting and photographing of firearm owners in Maryland.

The language of the Maryland bill and the laws from 1939 Germany are hauntingly similar. Therefore, the political statement Alzona made was inevitable.

Joseph Sladki, Laytonsville

I am sickened by the County Council's vote to keep Augustus Alzona on the Hate Violence Commission.

Alzona should be held accountable for his remarks. At the very least, he should make some apology, or perform some kind of community service.

County Executive Douglas Duncan is correct in asking for his removal, as are U.S. Rep. Constance Morella and County Councilman Howard Denis.

Sara Klompus, Silver Spring