Posted on 11/08/2001 7:44:15 PM PST by 2nd_Ammendment_Defender
I wrote an e-mail to Coalition to Stop Gun Violence in late October 2001. My letter was as follows:
Your organization should focus more on strengthening the family unit rather than more laws banning firearms. Statistics show that children who are raised in good loving families with a mother and father turn out to be good law abiding citizens. England's gun control provisions haven't made them a better society. Children with respect and morals will most likely become adults with respect and morals. Sadly there are many single parent families today which account for more instability in U.S.A. society. Temporary patches a gun control will not solve a very large problem as violence in America today.
Keith
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Response to me:
Here is more information about the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
America is besieged by gun violence. In 1998, 30,708 Americans died from firearm injuries. Hundreds of thousands more were injured. Although handguns comprise only one-third of firearms in the U.S., they are used in more than two-thirds of firearms-related homicides.
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence’s mission is to stop gun violence by fostering effective community and national action.
5 facts every American must know about gun violence
1. Residents of homes where a gun is present are 5 times more likely to experience a suicide and 3 times more likely to experience a homicide than are residents of homes without guns. If you really want to protect yourself and your family, do not buy a handgun.
2. The Second Amendment is no barrier to tough gun control laws. No gun control law has ever been overturned on Second Amendment grounds. We could ban handguns tomorrow and it would pass constitutional muster.
3. The Gun Industry is one of the few unregulated industries in America. Every other consumer product -- from teddy bears to toasters -- is subject to stringent safety regulations. Guns are not.
4. Even if you don’t own a gun, you pay for gun violence in America. You pay for increased health care costs, you pay with a loss of security, and you pay with a loss of freedom.
5. The media tends to cover gun issues solely as a crime problem, but gun violence is a public health epidemic. Everyone, regardless of age, race, or ethnicity, suffers from gun violence.
What does America gain from tough, restrictive gun laws?
1. Freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean amassing an arsenal of weapons in your basement and preparing for Armageddon. Freedom is dropping your children off at school and not worrying about their safety. Freedom is walking in your neighborhood after dark. Freedom is not having to worry about gunfire.
2. Safety. Approximately 30,000 Americans are killed with firearms every year and an additional 90,000 are injured with firearms. This violence threatens all our lives.
3. Protection. The Brady Law has stopped over 500,000 illegal purchases of firearms. The Crime Bill of 1994 significantly lowered the number of gun dealers operating in America. Tough gun laws reduce crime and save lives.
4. Healthy Children. Children in the United States are 12 times more likely to die from a firearm injury than children in other industrialized countries. Guns kill and young people are dying. We must band together to provide a safe environment for all of America's youth.
5. Peace of Mind - Behind the staggering statistics, are families and friends struggling to deal with the pain of losing a loved one. Tough gun laws will reduce firearm death and injury and restore peace of mind for families and communities.
My second reponse to Coalition to Stop Gun Violence:
Hi,
You should also outlaw knives, cars, rocks, rat poison and anything else harmful to humans (by the way, cars accidents have killed more people than any gun did). If you outlaw guns the good citizens will turn them in and leave only the criminals and other people who choose not to follow the [gun ban] laws [of] firearms. It is already illegal for felons to own firearms and yet they seem to get their hands on them anyway. Don't tell me it's because of the mass availabilty of firearms because drugs are very illegal and yet they seem to flow very unhindered into the U.S.A. Just because you outlaw something doesn't mean you will get rid of it. Unless you want a cop on every corner your going to have people acting they way they want to. Your looking at the results of broken homes and unwanted kids on the streets commiting crime. No gun control law will ever mend the coldness in men and women's hearts.
Keith
It's too bad many people can't see a concealed carry armed citizen enforcing the peace and upholding the law.
The leaders of CSGV et al. are well aware that widespread firearm ownership and concealed-carry reduce crime. THAT'S WHY THEY OPPOSE THEM. Politicians and celebrities aren't concerned about criminals with guns. They have bodyguards to protect them. What they are afraid of are law-abiding citizens with guns who may realize they don't need all the "protection" the government wants to "offer" them.
BTW, it's interesting to note that the U.S. government deliberately works to make people increasingly dependent upon it, when the war in 1776 was a war for INDEPENDENCE. Unfortunately, too few people realize that the essense of slavery is not the fact that the slave does work for his master, but rather the fact that the slave is dependent upon his master's good will. When one recognizes that, it becomes clear how much freedom has already been lost and how much more is in severe jeopardy.
'Splain me how that had nothing to do with freedom?
I'd never keep my firearms in a basement, though-- too damp.... unless I had no choice, to keep 'em away from these new Redcoats.
1. Freedom.
Ahem. Calling George Orwell.
2. Safety. Approximately 30,000 Americans are killed with firearms every year and an additional 90,000 are injured with firearms.
Over 2 million people use firearms to defend themselves every year. Take the gun away and you have 2 million more casualties to deal with on top of the 30 thousand a year.
3. Protection
Calling George Orwell. I'm sure the next time a burglar breaks into my home, I'll wave a copy of the Brady law under his nose instead of a gun. Yep, that'll fix your wagon, Mr. Criminal!
Try to buy a handgun in California that hasn't passed the "drop test". These people are incapable of telling the truth!
About once a year they trot out this tired old nag of a shibboleth-- I've heard there are 23,086 guns laws already on the books.... so #23,087 will be the magic law that solves the problem, right?
"A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." - Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
The ATF regulations concerning firearms, at 300-plus pages, would be a far more effective weapon.
"Freedom for criminals is picking your children up at school to molest them and not worrying about their own safety. Freedom for criminals is walking in your neighborhood after dark. Freedom for criminals is not having to worry about gunfire when they come to rape or kill members of your family."
Nah, they're not worthy. :-)
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