Well, I guess it is time to respond to Walter Lewis op-ed piece of Feb 24, “Access to guns should not be curtailed” I tire of the falsehood that America is a “culture of violence.” Of all the people I
Well, I guess it is time to respond to Walter Lewis op-ed piece of Feb 24, “Access to guns should not be curtailed”
I tire of the falsehood that America is a “culture of violence.” Of all the people I meet and talk to everyday, the only time I ever saw one who was violent was at the Ala Moana bus stop in 1978 — and he was obviously hopped up on drugs. Lewis’ argument is that people need to own guns because other people with guns kill people who don’t have guns. The idea of keeping guns out of the hands of violent people (who must be a very small percentage of our population) never occurs to him.
Lewis chastises Democrats for “looking increasingly for government protection.” Isn’t the justification for the Department of Defense and the Bush created Department of Homeland Security to protect us? More Americans are killed by falling in the bathtub than are killed by terrorists. There is even a recent article that suggests more people are killed by toddlers than are killed by terrorists. That the USA spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined suggests that we aren’t getting what we are paying for — unless we aren’t paying for government protection, but rather corporate empire.
Like the NRA, Lewis ignores the part of the 2nd Amendment that requires a “well-regulated militia” so he then can make the specious argument that anyone can own any kind of weapon they might choose. That position does not exclude terrorists. In fact, under current “law,” persons who are on the TSA no-fly list can still purchase any kind of weapon they want.
The NRA and Lewis used to demand that “current laws be enforced.” However, the NRA has been successful in preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from having a permanent director for the last six years, and the current nominee for that office is being filibustered by the Senate Republicans. Let us be clear — the Republicans do NOT want current laws to be enforced. This allows them to claim that nothing can be done to keep weapons from the hands of criminals.
Lewis fans the flames of home invasion that results in death which can also be defined as “Burglary-Homicide.” The Republicans have prohibited the CDC from collecting statistics on gun violence and the FBI does not track “Home Invasions,” so any statistics on the subject should be viewed with suspicion. However, the record shows that there was one home invasion in Connecticut in 2007 and one in 2008 which prompted Rep. Chris Murphy to propose making Home Invasion a federal crime (it was defeated by the Republicans). Professor Harold Pollack from the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab states that there are about 100 burglary-homicides a year, compared to 18,000 suicides. In other words, the fear of home invasion is all out of proportion to the risk. Likewise, there are some people who refuse to wear seat belts because they have an irrational fear that they will be unable to unhook it in a car fire.
Mr. Lewis blames the victim for being killed in a home invasion because that person did not own a gun. What about the victims who did have a gun and were murdered anyway? What about the victims who were killed with their own gun when the burglar took it away from them?
I cannot understand how Mr. Lewis makes the connection between home-invasion and protests against right-to-work-for-less laws being passed in Michigan. I guess that Mr. Lewis believes that in this case (unlike efforts to regulate guns), the government knows best and the rest-of-us should sit down and shut-up and accept the crumbs that fall from the table of America’s corporate elite. That corporate elite (sometimes called the military-industrial complex) that is making billions on the sale of guns and weapons. Often “gun rights” supporters claim they need their gun to fight against the tyranny of the state, but here Lewis supports that tyranny. In any case, people who believe they can make a stand against the U.S. Army have been watching too much “Battlestar Galactica.”
Mr. Lewis’ claim that, “The volume of homicidal felonies by holders of gun permits is minimal,” obviously supports laws that — all — guns should be permitted. Mr. Lewis needs to rethink his position.
Finally, Mr. Lewis gives up by stating that the government can’t prove that new laws will accomplish anything so why bother. Appeals to the helplessness of the victim should be loudly shouted down. We are human beings damn it, and we’re not going to take it any more.
I am calling for the Second Amendment to be enforced, which means guns should be “well-regulated” and that regulation includes: comprehensive background checks — including special checks for those who want to own assault weapons, gun-owner insurance policies, registration of all guns, required government approved recurrent training for all gun owners, prohibition of gun ownership by felons, and strict regulation of ammunition sales.
Note that these proposals place very minor restrictions on gun owners in comparison to the huge benefit in safety for non-gun owners. Anyone who complies with these proposals can still obtain any kind of weapon and any number of weapons he desires. But the guns will be kept out of the hands of criminals and these minor restrictions will greatly improve public safety.
• John Zwiebel is a Kalaheo resident.
