Assault on some gun facts
It is amazing how many ways that Dan Catalano can be misleading or wrong in “Gun Crazy” (Odd Dominion, January 25). Just to even things up a bit I’d like to slip in a few facts and a couple observations. Fact #1: California is also in the Top 10 states that supplies guns used in out-of-state crimes. Calling California gun control laws tight is a serious understatement but their guns somehow find their way out of state. Fact #2: There are no unlicensed gun show dealers, period. There are private individuals selling a gun or two at a gun show just like they could at their house. Fact #3: The Virginia Citizens Defense League does vigorously promote gun rights for people who can legally own them. Fact #4: The reason why he’s on the losing side of gun control is it just doesn’t work. Nowhere has gun control lowered crime over what it was when enacted.
Observation #1: Concerning the young man who “almost shot” the wrong person, what Mr Catalano left out was that wrong person he mentioned was holding the pistol used and standing in the middle of a bunch of people who had just been shot. Ask any police officer about that situation and you’ll find them as surprised as I am that the person holding the gun didn’t get shot. When the police or anyone else show up at a murder scene you really don’t want to be the one holding a gun standing over the bodies. Observation #2: Gun laws have been getting more relaxed over the past 20 years. More people than ever legally carry a concealed weapon and tens of millions more guns have been sold. During this same period violent crime has dropped by about 50 percent. According to gun control enthusiasts, this just can’t be. Observation #3: I personally think the individual with an AR-15 at lobby day was being stupid. In your face actions like that don’t help whatever cause you support no matter how legal.
In ending, Mr Catalano should be happy to know that he already lives in his utopia. People with documented mental problems are prohibited from owning firearms. The mad man in Tucson had been noted as seeming to have mental issues, but the legal action requiring treatment was never done. Without that legal action, he wouldn’t show up in any background check. With rare exceptions, only the police can have have assault weapons. Assault weapons are by definition capable of full automatic firing—one trigger pull and the gun keeps shooting. They have been illegal, with those exceptions, since the National Firearms Act of 1934. Legally owned full automatic weapons are not used in crime in America.
Brian Weidman
Charlottesville