Editor:
To our president, Senate majority leader and all gun control advocates disappointed with the Senate vote: Background checks are already the law for online purchases and at gun shows. A booth is at every gun show to process your paperwork. All online purchases must be sent directly to an authorized licensed gun dealer in your area for clearance, not to your home address. This move will do nothing to stop the violence. The media and this administration are deceiving the American public, in the pursuit of laws that will not be followed by the “lawless” who perpetrate crimes like those in Connecticut, but limit the rights of law abiding citizens to defend themselves.
Current laws must be enforced, and plea bargaining by criminals in the justice system must stop. Penalties for illegal use of firearms in the commission of a crime should be swift and strong. Most in the anti-gun movement, including many in our Legislature, are ignorant regarding safe use of firearms. Ignorance and fear are poor stances from which to frame any law.
No law-abiding citizen ever used a gun to murder someone. No weapon in the hands of the law-abiding citizen is an assault weapon — rather, a defense weapon, or for sport shooting or hunting or part of historic collections. Disarming the American public is a strategy of dictatorial control and will most certainly make us more vulnerable than we already are to terrorist activities. While Boston was on lockdown, I think some of those citizens would have felt more secure with a legal weapon on hand for their own immediate defense. Now, when “Hollywood” asks you why you would need an “assault” weapon or a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds (which, by the way, are fired one at a time), ask them why anyone would need armed security guards.
Monica Noland
Cortez
