Open Letter to the Washington State Delegation on Gun Control Legislation,

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.

For a complete discussion of our inalienable liberties I refer you to It Is Not About Guns... It Is About Liberty – http://correspondencecommittee.com/Entry.aspx?ID=7329.

Joe Biden has said gun legislation is necessary if it will “save one child” this is hyperbole at best, and blatant lie at worst.

I refer you to the CDC data for 2010  Deaths: Final Data for 2010, table 10 - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf

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,