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Here's a letter I submitted to the Issaquah Press which they printed this week.
This is the third one in the last two months and has been part of an exchange with some Liberals resulting from a recent Town Meeting.
I know lots of you write, but I think some don't feel their words are worthy of print.
Issaquah is becoming a more (unfortunately) Liberal place and I was surprised at the fairness the editor here has shown.
Anyway, read it, enjoy it, criticize it and then give one a shot yourself.
Butch
Gun bans
Lets get to the real issues
First, lets agree whether we are pro-Second Amendment or anti, we all want to see violence reduced and criminals fully prosecuted. No more free passes for juveniles caught illegally carrying a firearm or courts working plea-bargain deals removing guns from charges for a quick conviction. We want the federal government to prosecute all felons rejected by background checks (NICS), not just 44 out of 35,000 as last year.
Assault weapons are fully automatic capable firearms (machine guns) and are already banned in Washington state. In states where allowed, they usually cost more than $10,000 to purchase and require an extensive federal background check to possess. On civilian guns, the term AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, the designer. Semi-automatic guns having cosmetic appearances of a military rifle are commonly called ARs. They come in hunting calibers that have been around for 100 years and are semi-automatic rifles meaning one trigger pull for each shot.
Civilian rifles, including ARs, account for per the FBI fewer murders (323) then baseball bats/knives (2,190) and fists (726), fewer than people falling out of bed (450).
Australia does not have a constitution providing the rights contained in ours and, therefore, never had the guns per capita we do. The Economist is a fine magazine, but has an agenda. The figures I look at come from the Australian government ( <broken link removed> ). Between 1996 and 2010, murders did drop 26 percent, but their other crimes, including rape, increased totally 40 percent. Obviously, their lower population made the numbers themselves much lower.
We need to move beyond emotional arguments to common ground that finds solutions that meet our rule of law while addressing the real causes of violent crime.
Butch
Issaquah
This is the third one in the last two months and has been part of an exchange with some Liberals resulting from a recent Town Meeting.
I know lots of you write, but I think some don't feel their words are worthy of print.
Issaquah is becoming a more (unfortunately) Liberal place and I was surprised at the fairness the editor here has shown.
Anyway, read it, enjoy it, criticize it and then give one a shot yourself.
Butch
Gun bans
Lets get to the real issues
First, lets agree whether we are pro-Second Amendment or anti, we all want to see violence reduced and criminals fully prosecuted. No more free passes for juveniles caught illegally carrying a firearm or courts working plea-bargain deals removing guns from charges for a quick conviction. We want the federal government to prosecute all felons rejected by background checks (NICS), not just 44 out of 35,000 as last year.
Assault weapons are fully automatic capable firearms (machine guns) and are already banned in Washington state. In states where allowed, they usually cost more than $10,000 to purchase and require an extensive federal background check to possess. On civilian guns, the term AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, the designer. Semi-automatic guns having cosmetic appearances of a military rifle are commonly called ARs. They come in hunting calibers that have been around for 100 years and are semi-automatic rifles meaning one trigger pull for each shot.
Civilian rifles, including ARs, account for per the FBI fewer murders (323) then baseball bats/knives (2,190) and fists (726), fewer than people falling out of bed (450).
Australia does not have a constitution providing the rights contained in ours and, therefore, never had the guns per capita we do. The Economist is a fine magazine, but has an agenda. The figures I look at come from the Australian government ( <broken link removed> ). Between 1996 and 2010, murders did drop 26 percent, but their other crimes, including rape, increased totally 40 percent. Obviously, their lower population made the numbers themselves much lower.
We need to move beyond emotional arguments to common ground that finds solutions that meet our rule of law while addressing the real causes of violent crime.
Butch
Issaquah
