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I never really liked the guy, but didn't think his response to me would be this bad...

Dear Mr. L:



Thank you for contacting me about the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.



My family and I join all Americans in grieving for the children, teachers and staff who had their lives taken from them in the vicious attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We must pledge never to forget the victims of this senseless act of violence.



From the attack on Congresswoman Giffords that left six dead, to the shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon and Connecticut, it is too painfully clear that we must take meaningful action to make our communities safer. The 2008 Skagit County mass shootings that killed six brought this type of tragedy to our home. No single law can prevent the actions of a madman, but that is no excuse to not take action.



I continue to hold my position that Congress should reinstate the assault weapons ban and ban high-capacity ammunition clips above 10 rounds per clip, as proposed by Representative McCarthy. These military-grade weapons serve no legitimate purpose in civilian life.



We must close the gun show and private sale loopholes and strengthen background check requirements to make sure that criminals and the mentally ill are unable to purchase guns.



Gun control is part, but not all of the solution. Mental illness has been shown to be a factor in some of these mass shootings. Mental illnesses are often misunderstood and under-diagnosed. Health providers need to give mental health the same attention that physical health is given. Congress should direct more research into mental illness and provide more funding for effective care of mentally ill patients.



We have not seen the last of violent crimes in our country, but if Congress and the President act, we can make our communities safer and shrink this cycle of violence.



Again, thank you for contacting me on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other issue.


If you are interested in receiving periodic updates about my work in Congress, please sign up for my newsletter by clicking here. I also invite you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Sincerely,

Rick Larsen
United States Representative
Washington State, 2nd District
 
And here is my response to that

Sir,

I am just curious, what "military-grade" weapons are you talking about? I am active duty military myself. The ONLY similarity between civilian AR-15s, AK-47s, etc is they look similar. An assault weapon is a firearm that fires in full-auto, such as machine guns. I now see that you do not take the oath to defend the Constitution seriously. Shall we also attack freedom of speech? How about religious freedom?

Yes, the attacks at Sandy Hook were tragic and I will never forget the victims that were lost there. How can more gun control laws work? Look at Chicago, one of the most violent cities in our nation. Chicago, along with Illinois, has the most strict gun control in the country and all it has done is stripped guns from law-abiding citizens. Criminals do not care what laws are on the books since they are already breaking laws. All this does is make it where people cannot defend themselves against these sociopaths.

In the Oregon mall shooting, the rampage was stopped by a responsible citizen, 22 year-old Nick Meli, with a concealed carry license. Nick confronted the shooter with his pistol but did not take a shot due to potentially hitting a bystander. The shooter saw him and the next shot was the shooter taking his own life.

Columbine happened DURING the Clinton-era ban. This proves that this strategy and mindset doesn't work. FBI crime statistics show that firearm related homicides have been on a decline for the last 20 years. The number one murder weapon is a blunt force object like a baseball bat or hammer. Why is there no legislation to ban those as well?

Please keep all of what I have said in consideration. I understand something needs to be done to reduce mass shootings, but please don't make a knee jerk reaction on this. Thank you, and have a good day.

Sincerely,

JAL
 
See, the problem with you response to his letter- you used facts, backed it up with examples and such.

It seems all too often that politicians don't care about facts. "Contributions", on the other hand... they like those. :D
 
So the issue remains, how do you argue an 'emotion'? Regardless of the issue being discussed, how do you counter point or persuade someone who is basing their decisions on emotion? Add to that the burning desire of politicians for burnishing their image before the other emotional knee jerk voters.
I am a pretty highly trained communicator. I have training in communicating with persons in some pretty difficult situations. I have yet to find an effective way to persuade the anti gun people in my world that Sandy Hook should not be the seed for more 2A infringement.
I don't mean this as a joke, while it may sound funny, but it's really similar to trying to get my 15 year old daughter to think logically about any number of issues.
 
So the issue remains, how do you argue an 'emotion'? Regardless of the issue being discussed, how do you counter point or persuade someone who is basing their decisions on emotion? Add to that the burning desire of politicians for burnishing their image before the other emotional knee jerk voters.
I am a pretty highly trained communicator. I have training in communicating with persons in some pretty difficult situations. I have yet to find an effective way to persuade the anti gun people in my world that Sandy Hook should not be the seed for more 2A infringement.
I don't mean this as a joke, while it may sound funny, but it's really similar to trying to get my 15 year old daughter to think logically about any number of issues.

I actually had to edit my letter quite a bit to "dumb it down" for him. I really wanted to correct him on saying "clips" but thought that might have been a little much. If I get a response to this last one, which I actually doubt, I am going to request a sit down with him. I don't see it happening, but I want him to know I, along with many many other responsible gun owners are very serious in this matter. You are very right about there being no way to talk to the anti-gun crowd since they have their own ideas and agenda set in stone. When emotions are strong, it seems that most, if not all logic is thrown out the window. This is even more so when it's the side without the facts to back them up.
 
SIG83, see my new post in this section of the Forum. You might ask Rick Larsen about how he would undo the new gun provisions in Obamacare (added by a Democrat) since they block linkage between any mental-health risks and ownership.

I find the hypocrisy of all politicians sickening...

Peter
 
This is so cute. I can't believe how they can say this with a straight face.

We must close the gun show and private sale loopholes and strengthen background check requirements to make sure that criminals and the mentally ill are unable to purchase guns.

I mean I know if they change the laws,I will still sell only to RESPONSIBLE adults anyway.

And my counterpart will still sell guns to whomever has the money.
Some will always sell whatever they can get to whoever has the cash.
Not knowing OR CARING what the product will be used for or on.
Been that way for ever and nothing any government in the world can do about it. Black markets will always exist.
 
This is so cute. I can't believe how they can say this with a straight face.



I mean I know if they change the laws,I will still sell only to RESPONSIBLE adults anyway.

And my counterpart will still sell guns to whomever has the money.
Our government will always sell whatever they can get to whoever has the cash.
Not knowing OR CARING what the product will be used for or on.
Been that way for ever and nothing any government in the world can do about it. Black markets will always exist.

Fixed it for you. lol
 
SIG83, see my new post in this section of the Forum. You might ask Rick Larsen about how he would undo the new gun provisions in Obamacare (added by a Democrat) since they block linkage between any mental-health risks and ownership.

I find the hypocrisy of all politicians sickening...

Peter

Which makes it easy for them to say "Well, because of current law we really can't fight mental illness effectively, so we need to be tougher on guns."
 
These military-grade weapons serve no legitimate purpose in civilian life.

Well, he's either a liar or is ignorant. Either way, he's not being a good representative of his constituents. That's the problem with all of these politicians. Instead of voting for the people they represent, they vote based on their own opinions.
 
Well, he's either a liar or is ignorant. Either way, he's not being a good representative of his constituents. That's the problem with all of these politicians. Instead of voting for the people they represent, they vote based on their own opinions.

You mean the opinions the lobbyist paid them to have?
 
Guys, lets be realistic here. There are plenty of citizens that are just as anti-gun as Feinstein and Bloomberg. They've been conditioned that guns are evil, have no place in our society, and crime will completely be eradicated by getting rid of them all. These people continue to vote the Bloomberg's and Feinstein's in to office. Some of us near Portland are stuck with Suzanne Bonamici and she is a god damn idiot.
 
Don't pretend that there is an active conversation going on here.

Every time you send an email or letter, you receive a pre-written form letter in response. If you respond again, you'll either get the same form letter back, or ignored.


This isn't a conversation, this is a brush off.
Rick Larsen never see's these letters. The closest you come is when his secretary skims them to determine exactly which form letter they "respond" with.
 

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