Letters To The Editor
September 28, 2011 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usAnti-gun bias
I’m writing in response to Bob Jones’ column “Gunning For Trouble.” Mr. Jones reveals a startling bias against private firearms ownership and a clear misunderstanding of established facts associated with the carrying of those firearms. I’d like to answer some of his points.
1) Mr. Jones related a story about being attacked in his home, and tells a story of how he almost shot an unarmed man because he was scared out of his wits. The key point is that he did not shoot the man, so one wonders why he thinks someone else would. Apparently he feels superior to most other gun owners, because his clear implication is that others would be less able to control themselves in the same situation, and would shoot an unarmed man.
2) Mr. Jones had this to say about the Fort Hood shootings: “I saw a silly comment after the Fort Hood incident that recommended arming all soldiers on all bases. Yeah, right, 18and 19-year-olds with high testosterone and some bad drinking habits packing heat.” Mr. Jones, those 18and 19year old “kids” are grown men and women who “pack heat” for a living. The U.S. military in general, and the Army in particular, receive as much training on the use of firearms and deadly force as any other profession on the planet. I would hazard to guess that the Army spends more time training with firearms than our Honolulu Police Department, so I wonder why it is that he thinks that Army soldiers are less mature and responsible than a police officer fresh from the academy who graduated in the same class as the soldiers he maligns.
3) Mr. Jones admits that strict gun control doesn’t stop madmen, but then goes on to make the sensational claim that a rash of inhome, in-bar and neighborhood shootings. In the very same column, however, his introduction line was to point out that gun registration in the state has been going up at a record pace for each of the past four years. Guns are present in homes all over the island, and every day more are sold. If Mr.
Jones’ demagoguery were correct, we should be in the middle of an unprecedented wave of violence, but we’re not. Guns don’t turn people into killers any more than hammers turn people into carpenters.
Mr. Jones’ opinion is his own, and he is entitled to it. But if he’s going to give his opinion in the form of an argument against the Second Amendment, he shouldn’t claim that he’s staying out of the Second Amendment debate.
Derek Scammon
Ewa Beach
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