Banning guns won't stop massacres
Banning guns won't stop massacres
Editor:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a former Charleston resident (left in 1967) I'd like to comment on Sen. Joe Manchin's comments regarding gun control. Manchin made a quick, emotional and not-well-substantiated remark following the Newtown tragedy. In his haste to jump on the emotional bandwagon, he said he didn't know anyone who needed an assault-type rifle for hunting.
Manchin has missed the entire point of the Second Amendment. Perhaps he should read it as well as study the background that led to its adoption. Nowhere in the Second Amendment is hunting mentioned or even alluded to. A quick read of history should easily divulge the fact that the reason for allowing the people to "keep and bear arms" was so that the people would have the ability to protect themselves from others and even from a tyrannical government.
All too often we seem to rely upon emotions rather than laws. It is, also, seemingly popular to react quickly instead of taking a reasoned path to a proper response. Clearly, no one wants to see any repeats of what happened in Connecticut and other places. More laws, however, and acting quickly are not the solutions. Look what we've gotten ourselves into by passing Obamacare quickly and without reading the bill. Banning guns will not succeed. You've likely heard all the reasoning for that position. In China and Japan, similar travesties have been carried out with knives.
Richard P. Blatchord
Mount Airy, Md.
Veterans appreciate Sen. Rockefeller
Editor:
As a disabled veteran and advocate who stands in the gap for our veterans in making sure that none are forgotten or left behind, I have a very important message for Sen. Jay Rockefeller. I would like to tell him that the veterans, their families and I really appreciate him. I also want to express how we veterans need him to never stop what he is doing for us. We are praying that he will continue to be one of our senators.
I really appreciate him and he has always shown me respect. No matter how busy he was, he has taken the time to stop and chat with me. Last December when I was in Washington on my 48 U.S. States Labor of Love Veteran's Awareness drive, how his office treated me so very respectfully and hospitability. I can truthfully say that none of his staff has ever dissed me.
That is unlike a few in Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's office, including her. I was saddened that she is running for senator. The way she has treated me as a veteran she could treat all veterans equally.
Banning guns won't stop massacres
Editor:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a former Charleston resident (left in 1967) I'd like to comment on Sen. Joe Manchin's comments regarding gun control. Manchin made a quick, emotional and not-well-substantiated remark following the Newtown tragedy. In his haste to jump on the emotional bandwagon, he said he didn't know anyone who needed an assault-type rifle for hunting.
Manchin has missed the entire point of the Second Amendment. Perhaps he should read it as well as study the background that led to its adoption. Nowhere in the Second Amendment is hunting mentioned or even alluded to. A quick read of history should easily divulge the fact that the reason for allowing the people to "keep and bear arms" was so that the people would have the ability to protect themselves from others and even from a tyrannical government.
All too often we seem to rely upon emotions rather than laws. It is, also, seemingly popular to react quickly instead of taking a reasoned path to a proper response. Clearly, no one wants to see any repeats of what happened in Connecticut and other places. More laws, however, and acting quickly are not the solutions. Look what we've gotten ourselves into by passing Obamacare quickly and without reading the bill. Banning guns will not succeed. You've likely heard all the reasoning for that position. In China and Japan, similar travesties have been carried out with knives.
Richard P. Blatchord
Mount Airy, Md.
Veterans appreciate Sen. Rockefeller
Editor:
As a disabled veteran and advocate who stands in the gap for our veterans in making sure that none are forgotten or left behind, I have a very important message for Sen. Jay Rockefeller. I would like to tell him that the veterans, their families and I really appreciate him. I also want to express how we veterans need him to never stop what he is doing for us. We are praying that he will continue to be one of our senators.
I really appreciate him and he has always shown me respect. No matter how busy he was, he has taken the time to stop and chat with me. Last December when I was in Washington on my 48 U.S. States Labor of Love Veteran's Awareness drive, how his office treated me so very respectfully and hospitability. I can truthfully say that none of his staff has ever dissed me.
That is unlike a few in Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's office, including her. I was saddened that she is running for senator. The way she has treated me as a veteran she could treat all veterans equally.
I am confident that Sen. Rockefeller will continue standing strong for he is needed. I will always support and believe in what he is doing for West Virginia and most of all, us Veterans.
Lisa Groves
Dunbar
Gun owners should be registered
Editor:
Our Second Amendment constitutional rights are under attack. "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." But the right that is under attack, or rather, is disregarded and ignored, is the prefatory clause about a militia being the purpose for citizens to bear arms.
In today's post-frontier era, militias are replaced by professional police and military forces to secure the state. Yet NRA-led individuals demand the right to hold weaponry vastly more powerful than those of our constitutional framers' era, and to possess such weapons without having any connection to a disciplined, government-sponsored security force.
All of us recognize the value of motor vehicle laws. Drivers must be tested and licensed to operate a vehicle, with further tests to operate large commercial trucks and passenger buses. All vehicles are titled and annually registered, with careful tracking of all sales transactions. Stolen vehicles are chased down. Traffic laws are enforced. Those who violate laws have their "rights" to drive suspended. Why? Because in irresponsible hands, cars can kill.
In today's computerized era, let's enact enforceable federal law to license gun owners, and title and register their guns.
Allen Johnson
Dunmore
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