Open Letter to the Washington State Delegation on Gun Control Legislation,
The cause de jour in politics is to
enact some form of new gun legislation.
This is both unwise and unnecessary,
all of the propose legislation will only infringe upon the
inalienable rights of law abiding individuals, will not produce any
increase in children's safety, and is based on untruths, about the
extent of the problem, and about firearms themselves.
First it is the Right of The People to
keep and bear arms. This right is to defend our lives and our liberty
with arms when and if necessary. This is an inalienable right, and
our government is proscribed in the Constitution from infringing on
this Right.
Joe Biden has said gun legislation is
necessary if it will “save one child” this is hyperbole at best,
and blatant lie at worst.
Some numbers from the CDC:
219 children died from firearms in
homicides.
62 children died from accident
discharge of firearms.
17 children died from undetermined
intent, by firearm.
CDC puts the ages 15-24 years into one
group. This grouping is highly problematic, and often the victims in
this group are included as “the children” a 19 year old is not a
child, nor is a 21 year old bank robber shot and killed by police.
This age group is heavily weighted by gang activities. The majority
of firearm homicides occurs between 15-34 years of age, a total of
7,220, 65% of all homicides occurs in this age group. In urban areas
the FBI estimates 63% of homicides are gang related.
Measuring
the Extent of Gang Problems -
http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Measuring-the-Extent-of-Gang-Problems
Looking at the CDC data further.
738 children died from homicidal
violence other than by firearms, the majority of this category is
abuse by a parent or care giver.
4,147 children died from other types of
accidents.
Disease kills far more children than
anything else.
All of this is to show that if the goal
is to save the lives of children there are other, more effective ways
to accomplish that goal without trampling The Rights of law abiding
citizens by passing new legislation turning them into criminals.
I would think better enforcement and
application of existing laws in the area of gang activities would
have better results sooner in reducing the numbers of young adults and
children dying by homicidal violence.
The event of Sandy Hook is what
prompted the current hysterical push for new gun control legislation.
20 children and 6 adults; teachers and
staff died in a hail of bullets, at the hands of a deranged mentally
ill individual who broke multiple laws BEFORE he even got to Sandy
Hook.
When the shooter broke into Sandy Hook
the question I keep asking and so far have not received an answer to,
is this:
Why were the teachers and staff at
Sandy Hook DENIED BY LAW the means and ability to exercise the
INALIENABLE RIGHT to defend their lives and the lives children in their
care?
In the 20 minutes it took law
enforcement to arrive, during that 20 minutes the teachers and staff
were PROHIBITED BY LAW the one TOOL that could have made a
difference.
In the last 50 years, every mass
shooting save the Giffords shooting occurred in an area called a “gun
free zone”. A place where individuals are DENIED BY LAW the tools
to mount an effective defense against a deranged shooter.
Instead of denying more people, MORE
CHILDREN their RIGHT to be defended. Let the parents and school
districts decide the best means. Instead of declaring to all deranged
shooters, there are defenseless children here, take down the gun free
zone signs, and let it be known “there may be armed defenders here”.
It may be trite, but it is true. It
takes an armed good person to stop and armed bad person.
It is simply magical thinking that a
“gun free zone” sign will protect our, my children.
I would now like to turn my attention
to the mythical beast, the “Assault Weapon”.
That term is merely a scare tactic,
with no basis in reality.
In 2010 the FBI says of all firearm
homicides 358 were committed with rifles, “assault weapons” are a
sub set of rifles. 17 times the number of homicides were committed
with handguns.
Furthermore what defined “Assault
Weapon” in the 1994 ban legislation, in Diane Feinstein's bill, in
any of the proposed legislation is merely cosmetic. None of the
defined features affect the rate of fire, the velocity or size of
projectiles fires, cosmetic features have absolutely zero effect on
the lethality of a firearm.
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) had
no effect, during its tenure homicides did not drop, Columbine
occurred while the AWB was in effect. In fact after the AWB expired in
2004 crime did drop.
Assault is defined in the dictionary as
an action by person or persons against other people. Assault is not
an attribute of an object. This extends in principle to all firearms,
a firearm is a tool, an object, it has no intrinsic morality. It is
the individual who picks up a firearm, who uses it one for good or
for ill that has morality. A firearm can be use to facilitate a rape,
or a murder. A firearm can also be just as easily be use to stop a rape
or murder. The most conservative estimates available tell us that
firearms are more often used to STOP CRIMES than commit them.
All the proposed gun control
legislation is based on false definitions of weapons, aimed a
controlling a vastly overstated problem which does not, will not, can
not address the real problems, and while the legislation misses the
mark it will infringe on the inalienable rights of millions of law
abiding, responsible gun owning American citizens.
You as legislators, can do better, your
constituents expect better than false, misleading, misdirected
legislation that will disproportionately and Unconstitutionally
impact the citizen.
I believe your time and efforts should
be concentrated on an areas that effects all children, in this
generation and for generations to come. The debt, deficits and
uncontrolled governmental spending.
Sincerely,