The Feb.20, Tom Teepen column, “The gun lobby’s call to arms is way off target” is so devoid of what-actually-works facts and laden with emotional hype that one wonders how a syndicated column status is maintained.

Starting with the math: “Guns kill about 80 Americans a day.” That’s about 29,000 a year. If this were true, the several council members here and several store employees there would hardly be newsworthy simply because of the sheer numbers involved. It’s odd that people haven’t already armed themselves out of desperation.

The above statement finishes with the qualifier “one way or another.” Interesting. How many of those killed were killed by law enforcement personnel in the legitimate act of apprehension and/or self defense? What percentage were perpetrators killed in self-defense by their intended victims? The recent university shootings point out one important fact: Neither the law or the police can protect you from those determined to do evil. Murder has been against the law for some time now, possession of firearms on school property is also forbidden.

Police cannot protect you for the same reason that well-trained and well-equipped armies struggle with guerilla insurgencies — the perpetrator chooses the time and place. Teepen’s comment about the shoot out at the Beethoven concerto is a sad commentary on his own elitist state of mind and the contempt he holds for the general populace.

Finally, “Our gun controls are internationally infamous for their laxity.” Yes, that’s true. There are a number of other American policies that the rest of the world has problems with, too. Thank God! The “rest of the world” (whoever that might be) does not control everything or set American standards yet. Lives are lost to the misuse of firearms. Yet violent crime increased exponentially in England and Australia when private ownership of firearms was “regulated” and the means of self defense eliminated.

Mr. Teepen’s opinion seems to indicate that a pool of defenseless victims for execution style mass slayings is preferable to a responsible, capable citizenry prepared to defend their lives and property.

RALEIGH SNYDER
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.