Clueless local columnist

I like the local paper - The Daily Herald. For the most part the news is
reported fairly. However the liberal bias so present in the media shows up in the locally sourced op-ed pages. On the eve of the assault weapon bad ending a person by the name of Burt wrote his column
about this subject.

Here is what I sent to the letters e-mail address.

It's hard to know where to begin. There are so many 'facts' presented without any reference it seems to be a segment on 60 Minutes.

From an attempt to scare people with the line "threat 10 times more deadly than the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001" to the NRA being referred to as "gun manufacturers and their shill, the National Rifle Association." Burt pulls all the strings that liberals attempt to use support their position rather than facts.

Do most Americans support the assault weapons ban? Probably as they are mistaken about what is actually banned. TV reports show fully automatic weapons being discharged (strictly controlled since 1934), suppressed weapons, and references to armor piercing ammuntion. Unknown to these people none of these are part of the (former) ban. The ban covered 19 specific models of guns and defined what made a 'assault weapon'. When intelligent people have the law explained to them support drops.

As for law enforcements support - I've never met a police officer that supports gun control. I'm sure they are out there but they must not be on the street. I wonder if they are the ones with political aspirations doing their best to stay in good graces with their bosses.

The DC sniper reference was a interesting attempt at, once again, scaring people. Would Burt have been happier if a old west style lever action rifle had been used? Oops - can't blame an 'evil assault weapon'. I think I'll place the blame where it belongs - on the shooter.

Then the reference to hunters needing 29 shots to kill a deer: why? What does hunting have to do with the subject. Most people that I know that have weapons that could fit the definition of a 'assault weapon' shoot at paper targets. It's something we do for fun. To relax. To spend time with our friends and family.

The admission that current gun control legislation is weak is the usual left wing whining. 20,000 laws addressing firearms are on the books in the United States. And Burt calls for more. And the new lefist line about Al-Qaida manuals advising purchasing AK-47's. It seems strange to me that a deep cover terrorist would do anything to draw attention to his or herself like legally purchase a gun. Given the porous borders of the U.S. it seems that it would be easy enough to bring in whatever
weapons one wanted to.

The most humorous (to those with a clue at least) line was probably the one that included 'put more powerful weapons in the hands of more Americans...'. In this Burt showed his complete and total lack of knowledge about firearms. The so called 'assault weapons' are no more powerful than commonly available hunting rifles. Then again - maybe he's just trying to scare people.

The assault weapon ban was a joke. It addressed how a rifle looked. It did nothing to address crime. The only way to reduce crime is to address it as the social problem that it is. That is how drunk driving was reduced. The same approach could work for crime in general. Regulating a tool that requires human intervention to operate is useless.


Will it get printed? Who knows...