To "Drum Major" about Their Ad in USA Today
by Wyatt T. Martin
Originally published on this website on June 9, 2000
Drum Major Officials:
Date sent: Wed, 7
Jun 2000 06:46:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wyatt T Martin Subject:
Your
Ad In USA Today
To: William Wachtel
,John McConnell ,Andrea
Young ,Matthew Goldstein ,Adrew
Young , John Marino ,Leslie
Huell DiMitri ,Bernard Nussbaum
Dear Sir or Madam,
I saw your ad in USA Today (June 6, 2000) and I had to stop and write to you.
I hope that I might encourage you to thoroughly examine the facts and figures
you cite and perhaps offer a more balanced variety of information.
>Gun buybacks generally bring junk guns or guns criminals want to dispose
of.
This means that criminals can simply wait until the next gun buy back to
dispose of that latest murder weapon. Not only are they protected from possible
prosecution by anonymity they are rewarded for their cleverness with tax dollars
never intended for the purpose of coddling criminals. The other guns collected
by these dubious programs are usually from people in dangerous neighborhoods who
might well profit from having a gun one day to protect themselves end their
loved ones.
>Why would a civil rights organization support a government in disarming
its own people?
The latest instance of a government totally disarming their own people comes
from Germany in the time of Adolf Hilter's reign. Is this an example of a
desirable result in your estimation?
>Are you aware of the racist roots of gun control?
To use the image of a fallen leader, Martin Luther King, Jr, who struggled
for equality for people of color his entire adult life in a campaign to weaken
and disarm those very same people seems misguided at best. While it's true that
Dr. King advocated non-violence, particularly in demonstrations of civil
disobedience, I don't believe that he was in favor of dismantling the
Constitution that guaranteed the very rights he was seeking to be granted for
all people.
>13 kids a day is a bigger lie than even Bill Clinton is willing to tell.
Even counting gang members, suicides, drug dealers, and the people shot by
cops won't yield a number that high today. Please provide the source of the
false number or retract your false statement from the Americans who received
this lie.
>Are you morally and emotionally prepared to deal with the fact that some
of the people who bought your lie will turn in their weapon, be defenseless, and
be victimized? Or do the people you claim to serve truly matter?
Disarming law abiding citizens will not reduce crime. In fact in true
scientific studies conducted by John Lott it's been shown that more guns in the
hands of law abiding citizen leads to less crime rather than more. If you think
for a moment you'll realize that criminals would much rather face an disarmed
victim rather than an armed citizen. In light of that how can you advocate
disarming these potential victims?
I appreciate your attempt at presenting a balanced gathering of statements
from "America's notable public officials" however I'd like to point
out that your ad is misleading in that it refers to H. Carl McCall, Coretta
Scott King, and an inanimate object (the NRA's Fact Sheet) as public officials.
That term is usually reserved for those who have been elected to an public
office like the remainder of the people you quote. As it is two out of ten
quotes in your ad are from the positon you are opposing. In the future I'm sure
that you can do better than attempting to lead people to believe that only
twenty percent of elected representatives oppose those who would throw away the
freedoms that our forefathers fought time after time to preserve.
Sincerly,
W T Martin
Atlanta, GA