To the editor:
Every time an act of gun violence occurs, progressive liberals come out from under their rocks and begin their anti-gun rhetoric against private gun possession by law-abiding citizens, under the false belief — they want you to believe — that only by highly restricting it, or banning it completely, can gun violence be prevented.
Tom Hastings’ column (“Four steps toward ending gun violence,” June 24) reveals that he has absolutely no knowledge of the difference between a criminal and a law-abiding citizen, the major causes of gun violence, the good usefulness of legal gun possession, or what protects his freedom to write a column in a newspaper, or even publicly verbalize his opinions.
The very first solution he offers — repeal of the Second Amendment — happens to be the No. 1 objective of progressive liberal government, that has spent generations trying to attain. It is only because of legal gun ownership that our Constitution has lasted as long as it has, because they want to abolish it entirely. Only by rendering us completely defenseless against such a tyrannical government can they succeed.
Outlawing private gun possession will do absolutely no good in solving gun violence because criminals don’t obey laws in the first place, and they will always be able to get guns on the black market. Has Mr. Hastings ever heard of that, or does he just choose to ignore that fact? To disarm America, you must first disarm the rest of the world, and I can assure Mr. Hastings, that ain’t gonna happen. When law-abiding citizens are disarmed, only criminals and governments will be armed, and that is not a healthy environment for freedom.
Conflict resulting in killing has been with us since Cain slew his brother, Abel, and he used a rock; guns weren’t even thought of yet. So was the rock responsible? If so, shouldn’t we be attacking rock possession with the same passion?
One thing that progressive liberals, like Mr. Hastings, will never admit is that the real problem with any conflict, or crime resulting in harm or death to another, is not the fault of the weapon, but the fault of its user. Inanimate objects cannot act on their own, but progressive liberals with an agenda, like Mr. Hastings, want you to believe they can.
Common sense and rational thinking should lead any sane person to reject anything that comes from someone like Mr. Hastings, his organization PeaceVoice, or any like it, because their real agenda is not prevention of gun violence, but to have a life under the thumb of a progressive liberal government. That desire surely questions the sanity of Mr. Hastings, those that make up PeaceVoice or any organizations like it, and their membership. I don’t understand what these people have against freedom, or just what they think they are going to gain from ending it.
If they are successful in their endeavors, they will have outlived their usefulness to progressive liberal government and will join the ranks of all the others oppressed by it. …
Stefan Schemine
Delaware
