This is in response to Mr. Christopher White's editorial in
the November 23rd issue.
One thing that seems lost in all the recent discussion of
violence in America these days is that the problem is not inanimate objects
like guns - it is the human being that makes a decision to use these objects to
harm others. It may be trite, but true - guns don't kill people, people kill
people - and the proper response to an armed criminal is an appropriately armed
private citizen on the spot - not a call to 911 and a long wait for the police
to arrive and draw chalk outlines around the victims.
The perpetrators of all the recent shooting incidents
violated numerous existing laws. For instance, the perpetrator in the Texas
church shooting was by Federal law not allowed to possess any firearm. He
passed a background check because the Air Force neglected to notify the FBI of
his criminal conviction, and the fact that he lied on the Federal gun purchase
record when he stated that he was not dishonorably discharged. Only the
presence of an armed citizen - armed with one of those scary black
"assault" rifles was able to bring the murders to a halt by shooting
the bad guy. If an "assault rifle" ban had been in place before that
citizen bought his rifle, more people could have been killed.
Our Constitution has the Second Amendment in place to allow
citizens access to weapons similar to those used by the military for the
protection of themselves and their families and communities.
Criminals and the mentally unstable will be with us always.
New laws will not stop them, but certainly will deny good people access to
those defensive tools.
One way to address the issue would be for the media to
refrain from glamorizing the shooter with unending coverage on national TV. If
the perpetrators know they won't be headline news no matter what atrocity they
commit, they might think twice about going through with the act. At least the
good citizens of America will still have the option of self defense if they
need it.
Chuck Kuecker
