Well folks, had a letter to the editor published in the Pueblo Colorado
Chieftain today, along with two other pro-gun, pro-2nd Amendment right
letters.

Keep up the letters to local media as well as our congressman!

Doc Ron

http://www.chieftain.com/wednesday/editorial/display.php3?article=3

Copy of letters.
Thank you John and Dahl.
–
Clinton made ?loophole?

I was fascinated with the responses of your readers
in a recent Sunday poll concerning background
checks at gun shows. It is obvious they are not
aware of why this “loophole” exists.

In the early 1990s most of the sellers at gun shows
were licensed federal firearms dealers. They would
be required to get background checks on all buyers.
The few individuals selling their private guns did not
need to do checks (this is true if at a gun show or at
their home; people without a federal firearms
license do not need to do background checks).
However, starting in 1994, the Clinton
administration directed the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms not to approve or renew
licenses for individuals who did not have a
storefront operation (i.e.; gun show dealers). The
number of license holders in the U.S.A. dropped to
88,000 from 240,000 since this decision. This
means that the former licensed dealers that
operated only at gun shows are now unable to have
a license and instead sell guns as private parties,
no longer having to do background checks. It is
ironic that the very thing President Clinton wishes to
close, the “gun show loophole,” was created by his
own administration in the first place.

We must focus on the cause of violence; passing
laws that lawless criminals do not pay attention to is
foolhardy and can only punish those of us who are
honest gun owners. Let’s get sensible and remove
the hysterical rhetoric from our debates, restore the
power of the Second Amendment to the people and
let’s start behaving like honest adults again.

Ron Brace
Rye

Weapons deter crime

Your editorial of May 11, “Collaring crime,” really
missed an important point. I would agree with the
observation that our sheriff and police department
are continuing to do a better job. However, starting
in 1987, Florida passed a state concealed-carry
law. Since that time 36 states have followed suit. Do
you suppose this might have an effect on national
statistics?

Also, four years ago, Sheriff Anderson in El Paso
County issued 4,000 concealed carry permits. El
Paso County’s crime rates dropped. Since then,
other sheriffs throughout the state, excluding Denver
and the Republic of Boulder, started issuing to more
citizens.

With Columbine, our so-called pro-gun
representatives have backed off trying to pass a
state concealed-carry law. Also, our governor, who
campaigned pro-gun, has changed colors.

My point: Armed American citizens deter crime, not
new laws trying to disarm us.

Dahl Morgan
Pueblo

Justice shares blame

Gun control seems to be the politician’s and
newscaster’s emotion button this last year or so,
and it seems every day we hear more about the
need for licensing, registration and other new laws
to control the possession and use of guns, both
short and long. While the persistence of all involved
in this effort could be admired if it were to do with
anything other than trying to convert a constitutional
right into a “privilege,” it has little to do with
curing
the problem.

The judicial system has as much responsibility for
the proliferation of violent crime as any or all of the
guns in this country. If the system would charge,
prosecute and sentence violent offenders on their
first offense to stiff non-concurrent sentences, some
of the perpetrators might take notice and decide
there are other ways to live. Gun-related crimes
even more, no probation, no parole, no plea
bargains, charges for all the laws and ordinances
that were violated while the crime with a gun was
being committed, maximum sentences back to
back, no concurrents.

You can catch them, but if the law has no teeth, then
why bother? Some you can’t prevent, like the
Columbine thing, there just isn’t any way. Those kids
didn’t care about any of the laws they broke,
because they didn’t plan on being alive to be
punished.

But, just a while back, in our own town, a couple of
kids had words with a man visiting our city, went
home, got a gun, came back and shot him.

That is simple, pure, first-degree homicide. Of
course, this kid was just 13. So what? He had a clue
about what he was doing or he wouldn’t have got a
gun or come back. And Judge Victor Reyes gives
him seven years in YOS. I know people who have
gotten more time for stealing a bicycle. That isn’t the
only instance if you want to look at the statistics,
and
of course Judge Reyes isn’t the only judge to let
these guys off, but it sets the precedent for all the
people who decide to use a gun to settle their
differences and to commit a crime with a gun.

One death from “gun violence” is one too many. But
what about the 90,000 plus Americans who die
each year from “botched” medical care: anyone
care to comment on that? Or the thousands of
Americans killed by their SUVs that don’t handle
well and have the mass to crush smaller vehicles in
accidents? No Million Mom Marches here.

Gun ownership is a right given the American citizen
by the Second Amendment of the Constitution, it is
not a “privilege” and should not be allowed to
become one.

John Largent
Pueblo