Insanity

Letter to the editor this morning in the Janesville Gazette. I can't find the original on their web site - it might be posted tomorrow, or they might not post letters to the editor. If I can find a link, I'll update this post.

Anyway, "Augie Augenstein" opines that we ought to license and register guns and gun owners just like cars and drivers, and somehow feels that persons using guns in crimes are not "held accountable" because we don't have this registry. He pulls up a reference to a poll where "90% of Americans" want more gun control, but neglects to tell us who ran that poll.

He tells us that here in America no one has ever come for our guns, so why worry. Ignorance is no excuse for trying to destroy our freedoms.

He wonders why NOW we are worried about gun control. I've got news for you, Augie - gun owners have been worried since 1934 nationally, and since the 1890's locally, if they were awake.

Then he tells us to be concerned about who has the ears of our leaders - at least he gets that one right. As long as we let people like George Soros and outfits like the Communist Party  of America tell our leaders what "we" want, we are in grave danger.

My response:

Augie Augenstein of Janesville needs a history lesson.

First, cars are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution. Guns - 'arms' - are expressly protected from legislation. Substitute "pen" for "gun" in your argument, and see where you end up.

Second, "90% of American people" is 90% of some poll, likely by the Joyce Foundation or one of their anti-gun groups. Anyway, you don't change the Constitution with opinion polls.

History tells us that first comes gun registration, then gun confiscation - and all too often, genocide. History. Read up on it, or get taken by surprise.

Definitely worry about who has the ears of our lawmakers. George Soros, international socialists, the American Communist Party...

You want to stop violent criminals who ignore thousands of laws to commit their crimes? You won't do this by infringing on our God-given right to self-defense, or violating our Constitution.

Trying to stop bad guys with guns by making it more difficult for good guys to get them is like trying to stop home fires by requiring a waiting period and government permits for fire extinguishers.

None of the proposed laws - or what has been passed in Connecticut - would have prevented Sandy Hook - and it won't stop the next tragedy. You can be sure that there will always be people who will insist on "more controls" despite the obvious failure of past efforts.

Albert Einstein said it: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."