THE LOCAL DEMOCRAT PARTY WROTE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR THAT RAN IN SUNDAY’S CORNING LEADER. IT WAS FILLED WITH THE USUAL BROMIDES, HALF-TRUTHS AND CLICHES. HERE IS MY RESPONSE.
The left uses cliches and half-truths to attack lawful gun owners. The term “common-sense gun safety laws” is a meaningless focus-group-tested phrase. The oft-repeated proposal to ban all assault rifles has already been tried; an assault weapons ban was in place from 1994 to 2004, with no decrease in the murder rate. They want to ban all semi-automatic weapons, which have been around since the early 1900’s. Semi-auto means one trigger pull, one shot, putting the law-abiding on par with crooks.
Why were there no school shootings until Columbine? The left’s default position is to blame the gun, which misses the point. Why do we have more mass murderers in our society than we had in, say, 1920, when semi-autos were widely available? We need to explore that question. But the left always resorts to rules, regulations and punishment. They think we’ll become better people if they just regulate us a little more. Blaming the gun is a stealth assault on our freedom.
They say that politicians who take money from the NRA are taking “blood money.” NRA money comes from millions of NRA members who obey the law, love our Constitution and want to protect ourselves and our families. Republicans take money from the NRA like Democrats take money from Planned Parenthood. In the left’s lexicon the NRA has blood on its hands, but Planned Parenthood is the body count champ. The tiny bodies at their door number in the millions.
What about the leaky Federal Instacheck system? The Virginia Tech shooter passed the FBI background check even after a judge ruled him dangerous and mandated him to treatment. The Parkland school shooter’s dangerous behavior was ignored by the FBI and the Broward County Sheriff.
The government the left loves is too incompetent or too indifferent to protect you but that same political left doesn’t want you to protect yourself.
Michael A. Morrongiello, Ph. D.
