The Public Housing Armory
Dick Boland
January 4, 2000

Isn’t it a conflict of interest when the White House helps to prepare a class-action suit for whatever reason? The White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are helping to prepare a suit against gun companies, but the actual plaintiff will be independent local authorities that run federal housing programs. This gives new meaning to the word “independent.” Once again, the government is attempting to eliminate a legal product by inundating an industry with bankrupting lawsuits.
Andrew Cuomo, secretary of housing and urban development, said, “when only 1 percent of the dealers are selling over 50 percent of the guns used in crimes … obviously something is wrong, and we should take action against that 1 percent.” Is our law enforcement community so ineffectual that they are unable to police 1 percent of the gun dealers in this country? Instead, are we looking to put the gun manufacturer out of business? If it is a choice between guns and public housing, let’s keep guns and address the problem with public housing.

Criminals will always find a way to obtain guns. The government would like us to believe that people shouldn’t be held responsible for smoking, drinking, or shooting a fellow citizen. It is the manufacturer of the product who is responsible for its misuse. Lawyers tell us that their clients were duped by unscrupulous companies who led them astray, and that the company should be punished for the client’s crime. “The devil made me do it” seems to be a legitimate defense lately.

In addition to attacking the availability of guns, the administration wants safer guns. I totally agree that guns should be child-proof. The best safety device to prevent guns from falling into the hands of children is to lock the gun up. However, the people who leave guns where the child can access it will be the same people who ignore safety devices such as trigger locks.

Fewer than 1 percent of the people who own guns misuse them. This attack by government on gun owners is the reason our forefathers gave us the second amendment. The recent rash of school shootings has played into the hands of the anti-gun advocates who, like the Clinton administration, use children to boost their cause. If you like guns, you must not like children, or so they would have us believe. I think Andrew Cuomo is telling us that if we didn’t have public housing, the gun problem would go away.

There are a number of areas where citizens are licensed to carry guns, both concealed and openly. The interesting thing is that there are very few crimes involving guns in these areas. This would lead us to believe that we would not have a gun problem if more of us were armed. Even if there were an occasional shooting, we could blame it on people and not the product. I can understand why this administration would be leery of an armed populace, but they shouldn’t worry, we can eliminate them with the vote.

COPYRIGHT 1999 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

Dick Boland is a contributor to the ‘Wizard of Id’ comic strip and a former IBM executive.