Dear Senator Ayotte,
My letter is inspired by David B. Hart’s letter to you in Friday‘s (April 12, 2013) The Citizen of Laconia. Apparently thinking you were unaware, Hart told you that the Senate will soon consider “common sense limitations on gun violence“, which he apparently thinks would have avoided the Newtown massacre.
The Newtown killer violated dozens of laws, murder, theft, assault, breaking and entering, child endangerment, and many others. Apparently Hart believes that if there had been more laws, the Newtown killer would have thought, “Rats, now I’d be breaking 91 laws and it would be wrong to break more than 88 laws. I guess I’ll have to stay home.”
While that makes no sense to me, Hart is right that we need laws to protect us from one another. We should have laws against harming others, e.g., theft, kidnapping, rape, and murder. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?
Most of America’s crime occurs in cities headed by liberals. The problem, apparently, is that no one told the Mayors that to reduce crime, they need to enforce the laws.
Someone also needs to remind the Obama administration about law enforcement, Federal gun crime prosecutions are down by almost half. A cynic, or someone listening to liberal politicians, might think that liberal politicians care less about stopping gun violence than about having an excuse to take further steps towards their gun confiscation goal.
Hart is right, we all share the pain of Newtown. More painfully, we all share the guilt for Newtown. Our continued toleration of “Gun Free Zones”, which have prevented zero murders, shows a vile disregard for the lives of thousands of defenseless victims.
I know that politicians like to hear themselves talk, but, if it’s the justification for new laws, why is the Senate debating laws that wouldn’t have prevented the Newtown massacre? Liberal proposals won’t make the streets safe, they will only make the streets safer for criminals.
The proposed gun controls will only interfere with law-abiding citizens being able to protect themselves, creating more defenseless victims. Why is it so difficult for politicians to do things that actually make law-abiding people safer?
Please Senator Ayotte, do the right thing. Misguided grieving parents don’t justify passing the immoral and counter-productive proposals of your liberal colleagues.
Vote for laws that reliably punish criminals, not laws that turn citizens, who don’t harm anyone, into criminals. Pass laws that protect us from people who have been adjudicated as dangerously mentally ill, not laws that make people who feel stressed or have trouble sleeping defenseless. Pass laws that make crime more dangerous for criminals, not for their intended victims.
Don Ewing
Meredith, NH
