Originally published on this website on June 14, 2000
Dear KABA,
Here is a letter I wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle in response to an
editorial, Seeds of a Gun Control Movement, written by Louis Freedberg. in the
article he suggests that we use what we learned from fighting the Vietnam War in
this fight for gun control.
Michael Denny
mike@thedennys.org
June 12, 2000
Letter to the Editor
SF Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Dear Editor,
Louis Freedberg (Seeds of a Gun Control Movement) and I learned very
different lessons from the Vietnam War he holds as an example to emulate for the
purposes of gun control. That war taught me to profoundly distrust government.
It also taught me of the importance of our rights when trying to upset the
majority government establishment. Remember the Chicago Democratic Convention?
And it taught me that government majorities are mindless and will say and do
anything to have their way with the politically weak at the expense of countless
lives and dollars.
Mr. Freedberg's explains the need for gun control by saying that this problem
has "taken more lives than any foreign conflict". This rhetoric
reminds me of the use of the "Domino Theory" to justify the Vietnam
War. But reality proved that pulling out did little to hurt US interests is
Asia. And I strongly suspect that Mr. Freedberg and gun control advocates are
exaggerating the gun violence problem for political purposes. Those of us who
fought against the Vietnam War never had the top-level government support now
enjoyed by gun control advocates.
The truth is that irresponsible gun violence occurs in only limited and
well-publicized occasions relative to the 83 million responsible gun owners in
the US. And just as our other rights cannot be taken because of the abuses of a
few, gun owners cannot have their rights taken from them as much as control
advocates would like to think otherwise. While concerned about victims of gun
violence and accidents, I care more for 13 million Jews, gypsies and homosexuals
killed by their government from 1939-1945 after Germany enacted gun control in
1938, 20 million Soviet dissidents killed by their government from 1929-1953
after the Soviet Union enacted gun control in 1929 and the 20 million Chinese
people killed by their government between 1948-1952 after the Chinese government
implemented gun control in 1935.
With Vietnam, it was about getting the government out of a place where it
shouldn't have been. With gun control, it's about putting the government in a
place that it shouldn't be. The gun control movement is not about gun violence.
It's about using the power of government to exert control over our Second
Amendment right to arm and defend ourselves. Remember Kent State? Who says it
can't happen here?
Sincerely,
Michael F. Denny
mike@thedennys.org
