US must shake its Wild West attitude toward guns
In one bitter week, six dead in Kirkwood, MO and six in DeKalb, IL, an even dozen, from a fusillade of gunfire by two citizens armed and dangerous. This is not counting the other assorted incidents of victims killed by gun-toting citizens in our country last week alone.. I don’t have the exact number of deaths due to weapons legally obtained by the perpetrators. No doubt, that illustrious defender of the faith, ranting their spurious, self-serving interpretation of the Constitution of our right to bear arms, the NRA, keeps this total on their spreadsheets at Washington, DC. headquarters. In this hail of bullets members of this “militia” power-mad lobbying throng must be chanting, ” Hail to the NRA “. How many card-carrying members recited the Lords Prayer attending funerals of their slain friends?
Against an individuals intent on killing scores of others indiscriminately, the evidence is overwhelming that there is scant defense from limiting the initial carnage by officers of the law or average citizens, unarmed or armed with openly displayed or concealed weapons for defense. To those who defend the Missouri concealed-carry law I challenge each of them to be able to respond instantly and effectively to ongoing violence in a manner that would prevent the immediate bloodshed of others and their own imminent demise. At the very least law enforcement gets weapons training; most individuals have little more than rudimentary knowledge of weapons safety and use though they may like to think they are Cool Hand Luke with a fast draw.
Until we as a nation wake up from our 1870’s Wild West attitude toward guns, we will continue to witness these unspeakable, irrational killing rampages which compete for headline-grabbing attention with the daily slaughter of countless civilians and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both are a consequence of active and wrong-headed decisions we have brought upon ourselves. The ownership of all handguns and assault weapons by other than the appropriate authorities should be banned. Will we still be ringing our hands and hurting as many more people inevitably are taken down by legal and illegal guns? It is one quick step away from a deranged or angered citizen from pulling the trigger upon you and yours. Welcome to Iraq in Missouri.
Laurence C. Day
Ladue
Mr. Day,
Your letter is so thoroughly irrational I hesitated before drafting a response. Attempting to link law abiding gun owners and NRA members to the two tragedies is truly outrageous. Your emotional rant conveniently ignores the fact that concealed carry laws have been on the books in many states for a long time and there is a mountain of empirical evidence that they reduce crime. Proponents of concealed carry have never stated that all crime is eliminated by concealed carry laws only that crime is reduced.
Maybe you just do not follow current events closely, but there are numerous examples of concealed carry permit holders defending themselves with firearms. Perhaps you missed the recent story of the pizza delivery worker shooting a man attempting to rob him at gunpoint? Raising fantasies about mythical Wild West type shootouts is pretty lame considering that it has never happened in the many years of concealed carry.
Attempts to disarm the civilian population have been carried out in the UK and Australia. The gun bans in both of these countries led to large increases in crime. Only law abiding citizens turned in their weapons. Criminals kept theirs to prey on the innocent.
Legitimate debate should be carried out on guns like any other issue facing the country today. Emotional non-fact based rants do not have a place in any honest debate.