TH-R's editorial writer doesn't know his Automatic from his Semi-automatic
gun ban
The TH-R's
July 28, 2004 editorial, Fewer cops, more guns?
contained the following line, "At the same time, a congressional
ban on the production and sale of automatic weapons,
enacted after Colin Ferguson used one to kill six people and wound 19
on a Long Island Railroad train in 1993, is about to expire."
Please send in a letter to let them
know of their error. Bob Gaydos, Editorial Page Editor, rgaydos@th-record.com,
346-3182
Click
Here for 8/5/04 Letter to the Editor
UPDATE: 8/18/04 11:00AM- I talked to Bob Gaydos
and he said that they will print a correction on 8/11/04 and he did. Quess
where? On page 2 below the index:
"An editorial on July 28 calling for
the renewal of a federal ban on assault weapons should have referred to
them as semi-automatic weapons."
Fewer cops, more guns?
July 28, 2004
Former President Bill Clinton delivered
an electric speech Monday night at the Democratic Convention, offering
delegates and viewers with a litany of reasons to reject George
W. Bush and elect John F. Kerry. Depending, of course, on one's
political persuasion.
Of all the issues Clinton ticked off
to draw differences between Kerry and Bush, one in particular seemed
like a gimme from the White House. At a time when Americans are
increasingly concerned about security, Clinton pointed out that
the president is taking 80,000 cops off the streets and letting
thousands of assault weapons back on the streets.
That's a fact. A stupid, scary, easily
reversible fact.
Bush has proposed an 80 percent cut
in funding for the popular community policing program begun by Clinton.
That program put 118,000 more police officers on the streets in
cities across America.
At the same time, a congressional
ban on the production and sale of automatic weapons,
enacted after Colin Ferguson used one to kill six people and wound
19 on a Long Island Railroad train in 1993, is about to expire.
The president has said he favors renewing the ban, as do most Americans.
But House and Senate Republicans leaders, in the pocket of the National
Rifle Association are stalling on the ban. They say they won't act
unless Bush sends a message to them saying he would like it renewed.
So do it. Doesn't it make sense to
put more cops on the street and take assault weapons off the street?
Why give Democrats an issue when this one's so easily reversible? |
MY E-MAIL TO BOB:
Thank you for taking the time to talk
to me today. I know that the error that you made today might seem
like a small matter to you but it is major to us. Even with your correction
you can not correct the incorrect information that some people will
have who saw your original article but do not read your correction.
You support the current AWB but do you
support the bills that are proposed that would expand the ban? Will
you say that you do not support expanding the ban? (Remember that
Pres. Clinton said that the AWB and gun control cost the Dems Congress
and Gore his election.)
In
your new article, please list what guns you think that it should be
OK for me and other people who follow the law to own to use in shooting
and to protect my family with. How long are they suppose to be, what
rounds should they fire and most important, what colour should they
be?
Is a gun that holds 10 rounds
OK or would you feel better if I only owned guns that held 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, or 4 rounds? Would you feel better if all of the guns that I
own only hold 1 round and would you feel best if I owned no guns at
all.
How do you decide what guns
should be banned? I own shot-guns and hunting guns that work the same
as the banned guns but are more accurate at a longer range and have
a much more deadlier bullet.
In
your article please make sure that people know that it is OK with
you to punish gun owners for a possible act by a criminal that might
occur in the future. That "Innocent until proven guilty"
does not apply to gun owners and that it is OK to punishing me and
others before I am even charged with an illegal act.
Why
don't you propose the same types of laws in other areas. Your camera
can only hold film or memory for 10 pictures because some people use
cameras to take child porn. No cars can be painted red because that
is the colour that is involved in the most traffic accidents. Cars
can not hold more that enough gas to go 50 miles to reduce that car
chases that we have all seen on TV.
The
most disappointing part of all of this to me is the fact that you
are protected by the first Amendment and as far as I am concerned
you have an obligation to inform your readers based on fact and not
personal bias and misinformation. That you know so little about guns
is obvious. That you think that you know a lot about guns is also
obvious based on the fact that you think that you know what kind of
guns that I should or should not own. I do know something about guns
and know that almost all of the guns that you want to ban are the
same guns that we hunt and target shoot with.
It is OK if you do not like guns but just say that you don't like
guns, not that you don't like this gun because of its colour, that
gun because it is too big or that gun because it is too small or that
gun because it shoots a bullet that is too big or that gun because
it shoots a bullet that is too fast or that gun because it shoots
a bullet too far or that gun because it is too light or that gun because
it is a "pocket rocket" or ... |
|
David Dirks TH-R columns, NYC's proposed rule changes for reservoirs
land, NYC's Youth duck hunt and Deer management permit update
David
Dirks' 8/3/04 column has information about proposed changes
on the 112,000 acres of land surrounding its reservoirs including 33,000
acres reserved for hunting. The changes listed in the column all look
positive. The DEC will be holding public hearings starting September
1st in Flushing, Mahopac, Walton, Shandaken and Grahamsville and it
is important that the hunting public show up. For more information go
to http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/watershed/html/wsrecrules.html
David
Dirks' 8/10/04 column has information about this years
Youth duck hunt and Deer management permit information. The DEC's special
youth waterfowl hunt days for junior hunters between the ages of 12
and 15 years runs Sept. 25- 26. The column also contains information
about Deer management permits that might be of interest to local hunters
in units 3M, 3R, 3J, 3C and 3F. The last day to apply for permits is
Oct. 1. Leftover permits go on sale – first come, first served
basis only – starting Nov. 1.
David Dirks' outdoors column appears Tuesday
in the Times Herald-Record. Write to him at P.O. Box 87, Westtown 10998,
or dirksoutdoors@hotmail.com.
|
Legislature nixes pistol permit renewals
WARNING: Do Not Bring Handguns To New York
Airports 
Crimes with guns treated severely
H.R. 218 – LAW ENFORCEMENT SAFETY ACT PASSES AND IS SIGNED
SPECIAL
NEWS