One of the first bills signed by the president was to repeal a law that kept people who lacked the mental and emotional ability to care for themselves from purchasing firearms.

Maybe it was done to make a statement that Republicans are in charge and everyone else should just shut up. If that was the objective, it missed the target. We have issues and one of them is bringing jobs to our state, especially to Western Pennsylvania. People here want to talk to our Congressional Rep. Mike Kelly about all of the issues including jobs. So where is he? A sign on his Sharon office door says no video, no photos, no demonstrations and no more than four constituents at any time unless the group has a scheduled meeting. The sign states the restrictions are for the protection of constituent privacy and your cooperation is appreciated. The upshot of the situation? When calls were made to Kelly’s DC office, a staff member indicated Kelly was following best practices because representatives are uncomfortable with having town hall meetings with the public since the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., in 2011.

I have to ask, if the representatives are afraid because of the shooting of Giffords, why did they repeal the law keeping guns out of the hands of people who are actually not competent to have guns?

This is a Republican district. Is our representative afraid of members of his own party? Kelly ran unopposed and did not have to campaign or really meet constituents to find out what our issues are. He is still not talking to constituents and, in fact, is avoiding us. I called Kelly’s office to ask him to come to Mercer County to talk with people. I did not hear back except for an e-mail announcing a conference call to answer questions. I know how that goes. The people who get to talk are people who share his political views and say wonderful things about him. The time is used up and the call ends. How many people knew about that conference call? Did you? Maybe it’s time for our representative to man up and talk with us.