Editor:
Politicians say they want to ban "assault weapons" to protect us from ourselves. What is an assault weapon? Webster says an assault is "a violent attack, either physical or verbal." An assault is an action, not a weapon. Any instrument or mouth can be used as a weapon to assault. The mouths of many politicians have recently demonstrated they can, in fact, assault. They say they will stop killings by banning "assault weapons" that don't exist.
A few facts to ponder: Alcohol kills nine times more than all guns; automobiles kill three times more than all guns; drugs kill two times more than all guns; more than 1.5 times more homicides are from non-gun weapons. Interestingly, a popular non-gun weapon for assault nationally seems to be the baseball bat. Non-gun mass killings have taken far more lives than all mass gun assaults.
In Colorado, population has increased along with gun ownership and concealed-carry permits, while crime stats have gone down. Homicides in Colorado are low, nationally, with 2011 showing 156 in a population of 4.7 million, and of those 50 percent were with a firearm. It should be noted that a percentage of these were the death of the assaulter, due to the person assaulted being armed. It should also be noted that 15 percent of the assaults were with knives, not guns. A gun carrier can protect himself from a knife assault, which is most often much worse than an assault by gun. In the same year, there were two cars used as weapons of assault in homicides.
Do they really want to ban "assault weapons"? They will need to ban baseball bats, knives, cars, fertilizer, and oops, what did they just do with marijuana that causes DUI problems with potential vehicle deaths? Do they not want us to be able to protect ourselves and our families? Do they not want to admit what the real problem is? They may just want to ignore and sacrifice the Constitution and the liberty it ensures to the people, simply to maintain their own power and control at any cost!
Dexter Gill
Lewis
