Concealed Carry LTE
I read the Washington Examiner every single day. Most of the time, I read it on my morning commute to Old Town (unless I get trapped on a bus to the Pentagon, where I can’t seem to find a paper). I found a letter to the editor in this morning’s edition pretty interesting:
D.C. gangs make the case for concealed weapons
Re: “D.C.-area gangs younger, violent and tech-savvy,” June 26
Events at the Caribbean Carnival serve as another example of the dangers D.C. residents and innocent bystanders regularly face from roving gangs of vicious, violent perpetrators at any time.
As this article documents, gangs and teen mobs are increasingly tech-savvy, creative and ambitious. Police can’t be on scene at a second’s notice. A full three minutes and 42 seconds elapsed during the video capturing Saturday’s melee before a policeman arrives. A lot can happen in 3:42.
Each person is endowed with the human right of self-defense. Whether and how they defend themselves is for that individual to choose, but the District government impedes us by infringing upon our right to carry concealed firearms. It’s time for the mayor and council to get real.
Brian Wrenn
Washington
As is sometimes the case, I feel compelled to respond. My reply this morning was particularly snarky. I hope the good folks at the Examiner print this:
Who’s Brian Wrenn kidding in his June 29 letter about allowing law abiding citizens the right to defend themselves in the District? Doesn’t he know that well meaning liberals prohibit lawful gun possession to protect us from ourselves?
After all, in societies where guns have been snatched out of the hands of law abiding citizens, violent gun crime rates have plummeted. Oh wait, they haven’t. In fact, in societies where governments restrict our right to defend ourselves, only criminals have access to guns.
If someone is willing to break the law to rob a bank or another human being, then they’re more than likely willing to break the law to gain possession of a firearm. It’s disregard for the rule of law that’s at issue here, not gun ownership.
I believe it was sci-fi author Robert Heinlein who said, “An armed society is a polite society.” Time for gun grabbing liberals to learn some manners.
I should really blog about how to write an effective letter to the editor. I think my response above meets the criteria I have in my head for those.
What are your thoughts? Should law abiding citizens be allowed to carry guns?
UPDATE: The Examiner printed my LTE today. You can check it out here. Scroll down to the bottom to leave some pro-2nd Amendment comments.
June 29, 2011 1 Comment
Population control and wasting children…
Christopher Marsh, an Alexandria resident, opined yesterday in the Washington Examiner about unemployment… and human overpopulation?
Deportations won’t solve unemployment problem
Re: “Visa holders take jobs away from U.S. citizens,” letters, June 8
Karen Gilbert is spot on about the issue of stimulating domestic employment with visa regulation, but let’s not take layoffs out on visa holders. I was laid off last year, and when the smoke cleared the last remaining person in my department was a visa holder. I bear him no ill.
June 14, 2011 No Comments