Alphecca: Clear Thinker of the Day

March 14, 2006

Clear Thinker of the Day

This one a letter to the editor in the Philadelphia Daily News:

THE NOTION that Philadelphia can control or reduce its burgeoning murder rate by enacting gun-control legislation is nothing short of ludicrous. You write in your editorial that of the 380 homicides committed in Philadelphia last year, about 80 percent were "caused" by handguns. Really? I would have thought that 100 percent of all homicides are committed by other people. Handguns, indeed all firearms, are inanimate objects incapable of independent action.

Since all murders are committed by criminals, what makes you think that they will all of sudden start obeying gun-control laws when they show no inclination to obey any other laws?

You must be joking when you call for "ordinances to control such things as where firearms could be discharged or to limit guns on publicly owned grounds." I can just see it now - a young armed thug is about to commit mayhem but suddenly realizes he is standing on publicly owned land and leaves peaceably.

As to whether one-a-month gun purchases will reduce the murder rate, just look at Washington to see how such legislation is totally ineffective. D.C. doesn't let citizens purchase any handguns in any time period and their murder rate is at or near the top of all the rates countrywide.

Paul B. Raynolds, Summit, N.J.

Maybe I'll start a new, irregular series here at Alphecca called "Clear Thinker of the Day". It won't be everyday of course but when someone takes the time to write a sound letter -- to the editor of a newspaper -- that is in support of our gun rights or that takes a newspaper's anti-gun editorial to task, I'll highlight it. I believe Mr. Raynolds deserves the first of these citations.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at March 14, 2006 06:40 AM

Comments

Great article. The only thing he forgot to mention is that it is illegal to kill someone in the first place, so telling these thugs it is illegal to own a gun without a license, shoot in certain locations, or concealed carry a firearm is pissing into the wind.

Posted by: Ron at March 14, 2006 12:49 PM

Of course it won't be every day. With 330 million people we still don't seem capable of producing one clear thinker 'every' day. Talk about setting the bar too high.

Posted by: straightarrow at March 14, 2006 11:55 PM

That's a letter worth copying and with a few alterations sending to almost every newspaper in the country. It works equally well to address the San Francisco board of stupidvisors at any rate.

Posted by: -keith in Silicon Valley at March 16, 2006 02:11 PM

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Alphecca

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March 14, 2006

Clear Thinker of the Day

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah