Writer criticizes letter to editor on guns
This letter is in response to a Letter to Editor I read in your paper the week of April 1 written by Bill Horne.
First of all, we can all agree any time innocent lives are taken by any means, it is a tragedy, but comparing his heinous actions to “expressing his second amendment rights” is not only insulting but uniformed. Practicing our rights under the second amendment means responsible ownership and use of whatever firearm a law abiding citizen chooses to own and not mass murder.
It is apparent that the mother of the Newtown shooter did not apply these practices as she obviously did not use sufficient measures to keep these weapons out of her son’s hands. And she knew he had a mental illness. Unfortunately, she also paid the ultimate price for that mistake.
The suggestion that passing legislation banning semiautomatic weapons and high capacity magazines will eliminate criminal activity is absurd. Criminals, by definition, pay no attention to any laws, so taking our rights away as law abiding citizens may make you feel better, but it does nothing to get weapons away from criminals.
My evidence of this is the fact that handguns have required registry and background checks for quite some time, and on a weekly basis I see in this paper multiple arrests and warrants issued for firearms violations involving illegal and even underage possession of a handgun. These criminals must not have known about existing registry laws, or I am sure they would have rushed to comply.
Mr. Horne also wrote of his beliefs on who should own weapons and for what reasons. First of all to my knowledge, hunting is not mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but if I’ve missed it, feel free to correct me.
Secondly, if you would take time to read some other writings of the time of the writing of our Constitution, such as the Federalist papers, written by people such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, you would see that the Second Amendment did indeed guarantee the right to individual ownership of firearms. Also our right to bear arms was not only to defend against external enemies but the tyranny of our own government, something our founding fathers knew something about. The Revolutionary War was proof of that. Therefore, Mr. Horne’s reference to having muskets while our government has vastly superior arms is quite ridiculous.
I would like to end this letter with two quotes, one from Benjamin Franklin and one from an ex-Democratic United States senator. I can only assume Mr. Horne is also a member of this party.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” said Benjamin Franklin in 1759.
“The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but historically has proved to always be possible,” said U.S. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, D-Minnesota.
As our present administration takes control of health care, private companies, controls private property through EPA regulations and works tirelessly at taking our guns, I wonder if Senator Humphrey were with us today if he might rewrite this quote with much more urgent language.
John Brown is a resident of Uniontown.