Letters of gratitude for Sen. Rob Portman's pro-gun votes pour in
by Chad D. Baus
Last week I wrote about the intense media effort to force Sen. Rob Portman into changing his vote on gun control legislation in the Senate. I pointed out that journalists, gun ban extremists and uninformed or misled letter-to-the-editor writers continued to use a discredited statistic which claimed that 91% of people preferred that that gun control bill had passed, all in an effort to give the legislation a second chance. Finally, I invited the many people who were thankful for Sen. Portman's vote to respond with letters of their own.
The response has been overwhelming.
The following letters of support were published by the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Guns not the problem; it's lack of respect for human life
I very much appreciated Senator Portman's "no" vote on more gun control.
The cold harsh reality is that while we have no proof that "more guns means less crime" – or the opposite – we do see a rather significant trend of the highest crime rates occurring in areas where gun control is strongest.
The issue, however, is not about gun control, but instead, what people *do* with those guns.
The same firearm that the misguided, deranged young man used to kill the children in Sandy Hook is nearly identical to the one sitting in my home.
The difference, however, is that I as a retired military officer have a much higher respect for life than that person did.
We don't blame the knife, when a man stabs 20+ children in a school (like what happened the same week as the Sandy Hook shooting) – so why do we blame the gun, when that tool is used in Newtown?
More gun control isn't the solution, especially when the same leaders calling for gun control will freely admit that they don't have law enforcement officers to enforce the gun control laws that are already on the books.
Instead of looking at guns as the problem, we look at ourselves – individually, introspectively, but also at how we treat our fellow human beings, and work on helping each other to remain calm, rather than turn a blind eye when stress has us reacting to unpleasant circumstances?
The problem isn't the gun, the problem is the person holding the gun – and it's also the people who interact with and who surround the person holding the gun.
If we were a little less standoffish, and a little more neighborly, we'd see less of these atrocities.
Which, ironically, are down dramatically in the last decade. Ahh, the irony...
Darryl Hadfield, Westwood
Portman to be commended for vote
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman is to be commended for his vote in opposition to the Manchin-Toomey Anti-2nd Amendment vote.
That Portman displayed the courage to honor the oath of office he accepted as a prerequisite to occupying his office despite the emotional appeal from colleagues and political interests for him to betray his oath reflects great credit on Portman as a man of integrity and as a faithful servant of the people entrusting him to represent them within the restraints of the US Constitution.
Emmette Boone, College Corner
Portman’s vote was reasoned and proper
Recently the Organization for Action, the former campaign organization of President Obama, called for its adherents to target senators who voted against the recent bill to require background checks on private gun sales. Sen. Rob Portman has been the target of derogatory letters to the editor in newspapers around Ohio as a result.
Aside from the fact that this bill contained no provisions that would have prevented any of the recent mass shootings that brought it about, it would have imposed significant additional costs and difficulty for law abiding private citizens to sell or give a gun to another private citizen. Those who are not law abiding would not pay any more attention to these requirements than they do to the laws that prohibit robbery and murder, so there would have been no impact on the criminal element. Senator Portman's vote was reasoned and proper.
The bill could not work without the creation of a database of gun owners and it contained the elements necessary to start such record keeping. Such a database has historically led to confiscation in other countries. Since J. Edgar Hoover took over the FBI in the 1930′s, our government has been trying to create databases on its citizens. This was greatly accelerated by the passage of the Patriot Act and mores by the Affordable Care Act. Citizen privacy is important to the left when it deals with abortion, but not for other elements of life. Senator Portman's vote provided some degree of slowing down this troubling trend.
Portman has a distinguished resume and this vote is certainly nothing that should be considered a black mark on that resume.
Michael M. Schmieg, Madeira
Portman right to vote against bad bill
I would like to show my support for Sen. Rob Portman on his vote against the latest gun bill. It was a bad bill and would not have helped anything.
Glenn Rose, Mason
Distorting facts to restrict second amendment rights
The anti-Second Amendment crowd continues to distort facts and figures by repeating, over and over, that 90 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws.
National polls taken by PEW, Rasmussen, Gallup and USA Today all indicate that this just is not accurate. They vilify gun rights supporters by calling them terrorists. They demean by name-calling and with insults about the mental health of those who legally guns. The tactics being used by the anti-gun mob are straight from the pages Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” The national debate should be about Operation Fast and Furious and not restricting civil rights.
Mike Meyer, Falmouth
Stop with the false polling reports
I am writing this letter to comment on the recent attacks on Sen. Rob Portman for his refusal to vote for the Manchin-Toomey amendment. The claims being made that 90 percent of the American public are in favor of new anti-gun laws is completely false.
What happened is that the American public realized that the Manchin-Toomey amendment was just another poorly disguised scheme to make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their second amendment rights. Portman’s position was and still is, correct.
Please put an end to the false statements and insist that our local, state and national law enforcement agencies enforce the laws we already have on the books.
Randy Manning, Blanchester
Sen. Rob Portman is being criticized by the left for voting against their latest attack on our civil rights. Passing bad legislation under emotional pressure to "do something" is the worst form of public policy, and I applaud Portman's action.
The "90 percent support" claim is bogus, as when used about American firearms in Mexico. There is a big difference between getting people to agree with a platitude such as "background checks for firearm purchases are good" and agreeing to add pages of unread new legislation to federal statutes. Criminals ignore laws, by definition. Law does not replace a moral compass.
Gregg Siegfried, Terrace Park
Thankful for Portman's gun control vote
As a hunter and a life-long outdoorsman, I am so thankful for Senator Rob Portman's vote on the gun control legislation in the Senate.
Like most Americans, I want to find a way to prevent gun violence in our communities. But passing a bad law in the name of a tragedy wouldn’t have done that. No one, not even the law's defenders, believes it would have stopped what happened in Connecticut. What it would have done is make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their rights. Congress needs to come up with a law that has some chance of working. This law was not it.
John Cook, Milford
The following letters of support have been published by the Columbus Dispatch:
Senator had courage to do right thing
I thank Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, for standing firm against the emotional pressure to support the so-called "universal background checks" for gun purchases. He understands that none of this would have done anything to change the outcome of Sandy Hook and would only have affected law-abiding citizens.
The urge to "do something" is understandable. The ability to do the right thing, even when uncomfortable, is far more noble.
Any time our rights are preserved and our freedoms protected, the right thing has been done.
- JEFF GARREN
Shawnee HillsI am tired of losing freedoms. We have lost a lot of our freedoms since 9-11 . All because the people where scared and the government took advantage of the fear to get more power. I fear the that the government will gain enough power that our votes will not really count. The police are arresting Journalists for reporting on things they would rather the public not know about, We have lost our rights to protest (The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011), the government is collecting our Internet information and phone calls without warrants and now the government is trying to take away our guns so we can not defend ourselves from criminals. Please do not let what Our Soldiers have fought for go to waste, the price was to high to just give it all back.
Senator Portman stood up to protect us by supporting amendments that would have taken care of the real problems. Criminals with guns, the penalties need to be strong enough to keep anyone using a gun or trafficing illegal guns, including straw purchases, off the streets for a long time. The mentally ill, I understand the right for medical privacy and being in control of your own destiny, but what ever happened to a persons rights stopping where another persons rights begin.
We don't need more laws restricting the good people of this country, lets enforce the laws that are already on the books. Just because something bad happened does not mean the system is broke it just means that something fell though a crack, such as school security procedures which Senator Portman supported with an amendment to increase funding.
Kevin Fox, Galloway
It was only Wednesday's cartoon by Dispatch Editorial Cartoonist Nate Beeler that alerted me to the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice recently published new gun-crime statistics.
The cartoon showed President Barack Obama with a gun-control bill in hand, and behind him an enormous graph showing the dramatic decline in gun deaths. Obama says, “Uhhhh...don’t check my background!”
Funny. And it reminds me that Ohio does have one senator, Rob Portman, who remains focused on facts and committed to finding ways to continue the downward trend.
A great deal of ink has been expended across Ohio discussing Portman's "no" vote on the Manchin-Toomey "compromise" background-check bill, which focused on making every person's health records available to the background-check system. The goal was to deprive as many people as possible of the right to possess a gun, and to do so with no due process whatsoever. Portman was one of many senators, which including even some Democrats, who saw how widely the Manchin-Toomey measure strayed from fundamental concepts of liberty.
Equally important, however, are Portman's continuing efforts to improve public safety. Portman supported the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act, which passed. He also co-sponsored a bill that would have improved the background-check system, required federal courts to submit information to the system, ensured that states submitted adjudications of incompetency to the system, increased federal prosecution of gun crimes (something the president has refused to do) and would have given gun stores access to the national database on stolen firearms. This thoughtful measure — the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act of 2013 — failed.
But I know Portman will continue to fight for ideas that will improve public safety and oppose those who seek only to destroy civil liberties. And for that, I thank him.
DAVID KESSLER
Worthington
The following letters of support were published by the Akron Beacon-Journal:
Not the answer to gun violence
Sometimes, when bad things happen, we rush to do something, anything, to make ourselves feel better. That essentially explains the gun-control bill that recently died in Congress. It wouldn’t have stopped Newtown. It wouldn’t have stopped Aurora. It wouldn’t have stopped Virginia Tech. It wouldn’t have stopped Columbine.
It was a bad bill that wouldn’t have prevented gun violence. I hope that we see a real plan that can make headway against these horrors, but we shouldn’t pass a bill that accomplishes nothing at all. I thank U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and every member of the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, who voted against this bill.
Dillon Lloyd
KentU.S. Sen. Rob Portman is to be commended for his vote in opposition to the Manchin-Toomey plan for gun background checks.
Every member of Congress takes an oath to support the Constitution. Many seem to ignore their oath almost as the last word uttered departs their lips.
The Second Amendment is not a difficult principle to understand. What it protects is clearly defined in the operative clause, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
That position is justified with a phrase explaining that a well-armed citizenry provides an available resource from which a free state may form a well-regulated militia to defend itself.
The argument, “Well, we just want to keep arms away from those we believe should not possess them,” might be equally be applied to the argument, “Well, we just want to keep those who should not be expressing an opinion or reporting events of the day from the means of expressing their opinion or reporting events.”
That Portman displayed the courage to honor the oath of office despite the emotional appeals from colleagues and political interests for him to betray his oath reflects great credit on him as a man of integrity and as a faithful servant of the people who entrusted him to represent them within the constraints of the Constitution.
Emmette Boone
College CornerNOTE: Mr. Boone informed us that letter was also sent to the Youngstown Vindicator.
I wish to show my support to U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, for his recent support of Second Amendment Rights of the citizens of Ohio.
According to a recent article published by Pew Research, firearm homicides are down, violent crime has decreased and most deaths by firearms are suicides. However, they also pointed out that the vast majority of the American people think firearm violence is trending up.
This is a topic the media does not want the populace to know about. Another is the issue of race associated with gun violence. According to Pew Research, ''a disproportionate share of gun homicide victims are black (55 percent in 2010, compared with the 13 percent black share of the population). Whites were 25 percent of victims but 65 percent of the population in 2010. Hispanics were 17 percent of victims and 16 percent of the population in 2010."
Again, I urge you to report my support of Sen. Portman's opposition of any and all anti-gun legislation that will simply penalize law-abiding gun owners and instead focus on improvements to our nation's mental health system and enhancing school security, while respecting our Second Amendment rights.
Daniel Dawson
CampbellNOTE: Mr. Dawson's letter was also published by the Warren Tribune-Chronicle.
The following letters of support were published by the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Portman's sensible stand on gun rights should be applauded
Sen. Rob Portman should be commended, not demonized. He is protecting the freedoms of this state's law-abiding citizens by not supporting legislation that would have no effect on violent criminals. Anyone who thinks universal background checks would have saved one life in Newtown, Conn., is a fool, plain and simple.
It's amazing that the violent gun crime rate is at a 20-year low, now even lower than when the assault weapons ban was in effect; this is per the FBI's statistics.
Andrew Frankart, Tiffin
Portman's gun posture is more than reasonable
Sen. Rob Portman is being portrayed in an unfair light with regard to his position on our Second Amendment freedoms ("Gun-control forces calling out Portman," May 4). The so-called universal background checks would affect only law-abiding citizens. For example, they would prohibit lending a gun to a neighbor to go hunting.
Portman did support other amendments that would help to fix our broken mental health system, increase funding for school security and increased penalties for gun traffickers and straw purchasers.
Remember: We cannot legislate morality.
Scot A. Villwock, Clinton
The following letters were sent to the noted newspaper/s, and copied to BuckeyeFirearms.org:
To the editor of the Toledo Blade, sent Sunday 5/5/13:
After several days of seeing letters to The Blade excoriating Rob Portman for his vote on the gun control measures in the Senate, I feel compelled to state he voted exactly the way I wanted him to. As there was no aspect of the proposed legislation that would have had any impact on the Sandy Hook shooting, voting for proposals to take freedom away for nothing would have been a big mistake and I thank him for not doing that. Efforts should be focused to identify those of us who cannot be trusted with a weapon. This to minimize the impact on the freedoms of those of us who are sane enough to coexist.
Victor Price
To the editors of all the major Ohio papers, sent 5/13/13:
I just want to say that the negative reporting on Senator Portman,s vote in the Senate has been a disgrace.
I want to thank Senator Rob Portman for standing up for our 2nd Amendment rights.
The legislation Portman voted against would have infringed on our Constitutionally guaranteed rights. It would have prevented law abiding citizens from doing things like loaning a shotgun to a neighbor for a weekend hunting trip, but it wouldn't have stopped criminals who are intent on causing harm from hurting innocent people.
There were common sense alternatives that Portman did support that would increase resources for prosecutions of gun crimes, help address the mental health issue, and help go after criminals involve in gun trafficking and straw purchasing.
Despite what the media and gun control advocates would lead you to believe, firearm-related homicides are down 39% and nonfatal firearm crimes are down 69%.
Senator Portman has my full support, and I want to thank him for being thoughtful and using reason and data to evaluate proposed legislation instead of falling for the emotional arguments and caving to the millions of dollars being spent by gun control advocates.
Michael Lamb
To the editors of all the major Ohio papers, sent 5/8/13:
To the editor:
Senator Portman is being criticized by the left for voting against their latest attack on our civil rights. Passing bad legislation under emotional pressure to "do something" is the worst form of public policy, and I applaud Senator Portman's action.
The "90% support" claim is bogus, as when used about American firearms in Mexico. There is a big difference between getting people to agree with a platitude such as "background checks for firearm purchases are good" and agreeing to add pages of unread new legislation to federal statutes. Criminals ignore laws, by definition. Law does not replace a moral compass.
With respect to the specific legislation that was voted on, the devil truly is in the details. Firearms law is one of the few areas in which one can accidentally, or through no action at all, commit a felony. Review 18 USC chapter 44 and 26 USC chapter 53, and try to understand what is and is not illegal. The language is intricate, technical, and written by people with no knowledge of firearms. The Manchin-Toomey bill was no exception. It is attempting to use law to restrain innocent behavior, rather than punish misbehavior, which is contrary to our founding principles.
Finally, the percentage of citizens in favor of curtailing the rights of another group of citizens is immaterial. We live in a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Otherwise, once our rights were marginalized, whose would be next? I wish liberty and civil rights were as important to Ohio's other senator.
Gregg Siegfried
To the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, sent 5/8/13:
This is what Bloomberg and his anti-constitutional friends do - they put down a man that has the fortitude to defend the Constitution that many Americans fought and died for to protect our way of life in America.
Instead of going after criminals, these anti-gun people would rather attack our constitution and those who defend it. Some people seem to forget the Founders put the Second Amendment in the Constitution to fight government gone wrong - not for the right to hunt.
We may never have to invoke the Second Amendment to protect our rights and the Constitution, but who knows what will happen? The Founders did not trust government, so they put the Second Amendment in this document to allow freedom to be defended by the people it was created for.
The people attacking Rob Portman should be ashamed for their actions. He is being true to our Constitution, something that is lacking in a lot of our representatives, and in the president who once taught on the Constitution and should know better.
To the editors of all the major Ohio papers, sent 5/8/13:
I don't know why we are in fight for our gun rights - we did nothing wrong!
I am against so-call universal background checks being pushed by Sen. Chuck Schumer. This bill would criminalize the private transfer of firearms between law-abiding citizens. The legislation would make it illegal for a family member to transfer a firearm to another family member without the federal government's approval.
According to a recent Department of Justice memo, the effectiveness of a universal background check system "depends on gun registration" which is illegal under federal law. No background check system will ever be truly universal. Criminals will not submit to any type of background checks or anything to do with the laws, and instead We the People are paying for it. It's not right.
I oppose this anti-freedom legislation. I ask you to support real solutions that will reduce violent crime and keep us and our children safe! I ask you to fix our broken mental health system and I ask you to oppose Sen. schumer's so-called universal background check legislation, along with every other anti-gun proposal, including Sen Feinstein's proposed ban on commonly owned firearms & magazines.
The future of our Second Amendment rights are at stake. I am for fixing the laws we have now, not making more laws on law-abiding citizens. I ask that you help us.
Luis Morales
To the editors of all the major Ohio papers, sent 5/10/13:
Of the two representatives, Senator Rob Portman is the Ohio Senator who has the guts to truly represent his constituents.
The other spineless career politician is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the elite establishment in the Senate.
I thank God every day that I have at least one friend, Rob Portman, working for me in the cesspool known as the U.S. Senate.
The fact that he stood up to the gun control establishment is proof that he honestly listens to the voice of the people and the constitution he swore to uphold.
Jim Harrison
To the editor of the Elyria Chronicle Telegram, sent 5/10/13:
I am writing to express my support for our U.S. Senator Rob Portman. We should be proud that he represents the state of Ohio. I thank him for his courage in defense of our Second Amendment.
Because of his "Nay" vote regarding the anti-gun Manchin-Toomey amendment to implement "universal background checks", he is being portrayed by the establishment media as a person who has an "uncaring disregard" for the people he represents. Nothing is further from the truth. Senator Portman has repeatedly supported other amendments that would help fix our broken mental health system, increase funding for school security, and increase penalties for gun traffickers and straw purchasers.
Before attacking Senator Portman, consider these facts: Why is the White House failing to prosecute felons and fugitives who illegally tried to purchase guns? In 2010 of 48,000 illegal gun purchase attempts, the administration only prosecuted 44. Instead, the President is going after the "constitutional rights of the people who are complying with the law."
Despite what the media and gun control advocates would lead you to believe, firearm-related homicides are down 39% and nonfatal firearm crimes are down 69%. The Justice Department reports fewer than 1 percent of state prison inmates who possessed a gun when they committed their offense obtained the firearm at a gun show.
And finally, Pew Research Center has shown that the public's top priorities for the last 12 years has gun control ranking 17 out of 20 and the latest Gallop Poll has only 4% of Americans viewing guns or gun control as a priority.
I believe that Senator Portman is clearly an individual who has our best interests in mind when he considers all the facts and then votes with these facts in mind.
Dave Spillar
To the editor of the Dayton Daily News, sent 5/9/13:
Senator Rob Portman is getting a lot of grief from gun control advocates as a result of his recent vote against gun control. Instead we should be thanking him for his common sense.
Consider the following facts:
Violent crime, including "gun violence," has been declining steadily for 20 years, despite record gun sales during the Obama administration. There is no need for more gun laws.
The Sandy Hook shooter killed his own mother to get the guns he used. Does anyone really think that "universal background checks" would have made any difference in this incident?
More murders are committed with blunt instruments than with all rifles and shotguns put together, including so-called "assault weapons." There is no need for "assault weapon" or "large capacity magazine" bans.
Senator Portman supported measures that have a chance of doing some good, including improvements to the mental health system and school security I thank him for refusing to buy into the Obama administration's efforts to stir up anti-gun hysteria as a result of the Sandy Hook shooting.
John Sellers
Spring Valley, Ohio
As Mr. Sellers wrote to me when he forwarded his letter, "I suspect the anti-gunners think that 'the pen is mightier than the sword,' but perhaps it hasn't occurred to them that the folks with swords also have pens."
Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.
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