I would like to address the letters of Jan. 28 written by Tom Grant and Rick Devore.

I agree wholeheartedly with Grant that we should separate myths from facts in the gun-control debate. However, his claims that no one has made a proposal to confiscate or outlaw private firearms is false.

In a 1995 interview with “60 Minutes,” U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had this to say:

“If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ‘em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.”

Another more recent example came from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”

That’s right. According to Cuomo, confiscation could be an option.

Gun confiscation already has occurred on U.S. soil, not just in the minds of these so-called progressives. In 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans police, National Guard troops, and U.S. marshals confiscated firearms.

“Guns will be taken; only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns,” New Orleans police superintendent Edwin P. Compass III declared as he prepared to violate the Second Amendment. The National Guard conducted warrantless house-to-house searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The Founding Fathers made their intentions very clear. Here are a few quotes from these great men that make it abundantly clear as to why the citizens should be armed:

“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” — Samuel Adams.

“I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians.” — George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Declaration of Rights).

“The constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.” — Thomas Jefferson.

If guarding our constitutional rights makes me an extremist, so be it.

I would rather be an extremist standing up for freedom than a Marxist seeking to destroy those precious freedoms.