Write your Reps...

Let them know what you think of HR 1022 and other issues. Write them often...this is the latest letter I sent out to mine from Arkansas.

Senator Pryor,
I refrained from writing about this issue immediately following the tragedy at Virginia Tech on 16 April. I wanted to take the time to step back and let the emotions subside a little (both mine and the rest of the country's) prior to expressing my concerns on the fallout of this event.

Currently there is HR 1022 being considered and I (and many other gun owners, sportsmen/women) are concerned about the "knee jerk" reaction and emotion based voting on this bill following the VT incident.

I ask that you take a step back and look at HR 1022 closely if you were considering supporting this bill. Banning a wepon based upon its looks is asinine at best. The fact that an AR15 is semiautomatic and fires a 223 caliber round loaded from a removable magazine is no more dangerous than a Remington 7400 that fires the same 223 caliber round and loads it from a fixed magazine. The "experts" on gun control are trying to place the blame on the inanimate object (the rifle) for the damage it can inflict instead of where the blame truly lies--the external force required to make said object function (also known as a PERSON). In my 43 years of life (25 of them serving our country), I have NEVER seen one single firearm that I loaded and set down, suddenly discharge itself without the external factor (the person) becoming actively involved. Additionally, this bill will make firearms like the Ruger 10-22 (22 cailber semi-auto rifle) an "assault weapon" if it has a thumbhole stock. Thousands of competitors from 4H up through professional shooting teams use this very rifle set up in this configuration for small bore silhouette matches. This is far from an "assault weapon". It serves a specific and sporting purpose.

This line of thinking on the part of the leaders in Congress and the groups pushing for more gun control in the wake of this tragedy is flawed. I have read reporters and groups who say that the guns killed those 32 students. That is absolutely wrong. It was a very disturbed young man who lied on the BATFE form about his mental status and purchased these pistols. This is paramount to us blaming GM or Ford or Toyota when a person kills someone on the roads. Or even the alcohol companies when someone decides to drive under the influence and kills a family in a wreck. The same people who want to ban the weapons and blame the system as a failure are the same ones who pushed to have HIPAA instituted. The same HIPAA rules that prevented the NICS from gaining information on the shooters mental history.

The underlying point to all of this is that a person in each case makes a decision to do something that is wrong and then carried it out (murder, DUI, involuntary manslaughter). No one clamors to ban all cars or ban alcohol (already tried that and we realized that it could never be enforced). We need to not try to blame the guns either. Firearms are not the problem...people are. There will always be evil people who will not abide by the rules and laws of society. Taking firearms away from law abiding citizens will not stop those who wish to do harm or evil.

I would like to see Congress and other government leaders take a new direction on the issue of the 2d Amendment. We have so many gun laws on the books now that the BATFE really does not understand or know them all. Will adding more make it easier to enforce or make the citizens safer? The short answer is "NO".

Instead, I suggest that we streamline the laws and make them easier to understand and enforce:
- We need to ensure that criminals (felony convictions), those who are mentally unstable and children are prohibited from purchasing (as they currently are) firearms.
- I support ensuring that manufacturers are held to manufacturing standards (like auto manufacturers) so that they produce a firearm that is not defective or a danger to the user
- Stiff criminal penalties for the use of a firearm in the commission of a criminal act (no letting them off with a slap on the wrist ala-Snoop Dogg)

To ban firearm ownership partially or totally does nothing other than to make the criminals stronger than the average citizen. The argument for those wishing to ban private firearm ownership is that we have police and the military to aid us. Those thoughts are wrong...in many cases deadly wrong:
- First off, the Posse Commitatus Act prevents the military from doing police enforcement duties. A wise move on our forefathers part...this leads to a military or police state.
- Secondly, law enforcement cannot be everywhere all the time. Arkansas is very much like Texas in that we have citizens who live in rural areas that the Sheriffs Office cannot get to in less than 20 minutes. Murder, rape, and a number of other crimes can occur in 20 minutes. Even within the city limits the response time can be anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending upon call load, traffic and a miriad of other factors. The gunman at VT, carried out his act in under 10 minutes.

The point being is this; taking away firearms from the citizens only makes them vulnerable. I liken this issue to a sheep farm:
- The sheep farm is our country
- The law abiding citizens are the sheep
- The criminals are the wolves
- The farm owner is our government
- The shepherds are our police departments
- The sheepdog is our firearms
The farm owners cannot afford to place enough shepherds within the flock to protect the sheep. The wolves know this and watch and wait to attack the flock when they are not protected by the shepherd. The flock takes steps to protect themselves by getting sheepdogs. The farm owners do not like dogs...so they ban them from the farm. The sheep are once again unprotected and vulnerable.

While they may seem like a strange analogy, it drives the point home. People must learn to protect themselves and not rely upon their government to do it for them.

I urge you to not support HR 1022 or any other bills that push for even more restrictions on law abiding citizens owning firearms.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy letter, but I feel that this is extremely important and needs to be addressed.