A Test of Sincerity

From: AJMD <mailto:jstones@scican.net>
To: letters@sltrib.com
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 1:28 AM
Subject: A Test of Sincerity

Letter for submission to The Salt Late Tribune - permission given to print

Regarding Machen's refusal to allow concealed carry - http://www.sltrib.com/01132002/utah/167061.htm

A Test of Sincerity

Interesting that an alleged role-model like Bernie Machen feels it is OK to violate the law simply because he has an irrational fear of firearms. Worrisome to think that a person can attain a position of such power and influence and yet be willing to make knee-jerk decisions which could get people killed, without bothering to become informed as to the facts. Offensive to see him sweep aside the thoroughly-documented research by criminologists like Kates, Lott, Kopel, Wright, Rossi, and Kleck - many of them political liberals who admit a dislike for guns - as merely the opinion of "the gun lobby." Disgusting to think that someone who has the means to drive a good car, have a cell-phone, and live in a patrolled subdivision feels no remorse mandating that young women walking or taking a bus home from late-night classes simply blow a whistle if they are assaulted.

If you want to explore the pros and cons of issues like "concealed carry" beyond the usual sound-byte polemics of "NRA-vs.Soccer-Mom" visit Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws - www.dsgl.org, and check out Kopel's St. Louis Law Review article <http://www.constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/63perilo.htm> on handguns, or Kates' Tennessee Law Review article <http://web.archive.org/web/20010602091706/www.2ndlawlib.org/journals/tennmed.html> documenting the distortion and outright fabrication of "data" on the part of gun control advocates; perhaps the latter explains why presumably sincere and intelligent people like Bernie Machen support such dangerous and counterproductive concepts as the victim disarmament known as "gun control."

If Bernie Machen is really a sincere advocate for student safety, he will have the integrity to learn the facts, admit he was wrong, and change his position; otherwise, he's just another hoplophobe willing to risk the lives of others merely so he can get warm fuzzies knowing he out-machoed the "gun lobby."

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