Letter to the Editor: Shooting Blanks

August 26, 2004
Akron Beacon Journal

Your Aug. 9 editorial headlined "Victim of the gun lobby'' was full of opinions disguised as facts. The comment "no sport use'' is irrelevant. Where in the Constitution or case law does it state that any particular type of gun must have a sporting use? Those banned semi-automatic weapons only look like their fully automatic military counterparts. In this case, they may look like a duck, but they don't quack like one. (By the way, no AK-47 or Uzi "needs'' a huge ammunition clip.)

You were correct in stating that "manufacturers skirt the ban by making minor modifications on some guns.'' This just goes to prove that the law is full of silly and misleading definitions of an assault rifle, a pistol grip, a bayonet lug. When was the last time you heard of anyone being threatened with a bayoneted rifle? When was the last time you heard of a crime being committed with an "assault rifle''?

You argued that law-enforcement statistics "suggest'' that the ban has cut down crime committed with assault weapons. Statistics should not suggest something, they should prove something. This same kind of argument could be used to suggest that the use of baby food for infants could be the cause of drug use in some adults.

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You stated that the National Rifle Association gave senators marching orders to defeat a bill by a 90-8 vote. If the NRA has that much influence on Congress, how did the assault bill pass in the first place? Could it be the anti-gun arguments were not believable?

President Bush has better things to do than to press for legislation that has done nothing to make the homeland safer for "weapons of mass destruction.'' After assault weapons were confiscated in Iraq, many were returned because the unarmed Iraqis were being slaughtered. I guess you think it's OK for Iraqis to protect themselves, but not American citizens.

Sorry, Beacon Journal, but your anti-gun agenda is showing.

Roland Paolucci
Cuyahoga Falls

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