Letters To The Editor
cc: Circulation Dept.
The Indianapolis Star
PO Box 145
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145
To The Editor of The Star;
As a continuous subscriber of both the Indianapolis News, until its demise, and the Indianapolis Star since 1976, as well as being a paper carrier for The News from 1963 until 1972, this does not come easy. The September 4, 2012 Our Opinion editorial by the Star’s staff misleadingly titled Easy Gun Access Isn’t Neighborly is the last straw in our 49 year relationship. Please cancel my subscription when this month’s automatic debit runs out.
While I have an open mind to real facts on both sides of an issue I will not financially support a business that tries to influence the population toward further restrictions of my rights and interests by circulating the slanted talking points and statistics of anti-gun organizations including the Brady gun control campaign without checking the facts. The article was obviously written by staffers who have neither experienced purchasing a firearm nor even researched the state and federal laws pertaining to the purchase and ownership of a firearm. Minimal research on your part would have de-bunked the Brady claims. Simple logic was also lacking in the piece.
If “easy access” to firearms in Indiana and other surrounding states is the cause killing so many Chicago residents why do we not have the same problem here and in other cities in other “easy access” states? The true cause of all the mayhem in the windy city is Chicago ’s draconian gun prohibition that makes easy victims of its residents. Even after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chicago residents’ right to own a firearm Chicago’s anti-gun mayor quickly wrote and enacted new laws to prohibit possessing a firearm outside of the ‘living area’ of their homes. Current Illinois law prohibits its citizens from carrying concealed weapons. A perfect example of how laws only affect the law abiding. And a Chicago resident cannot legally use a gun for protection on their own property outside of their ‘living area’ and that does not even include their garage. Law breakers will never comply with the laws. If they did they would honor the anti-murder laws enacted over two centuries ago. This is why Thomas Jefferson wrote that one should “be at all times armed”.
Besides the Chicago and Illinois laws ignored in the Star’s opinion article, here are a few other issues that might have altered the article had you done your own research:
1. The instant background check is the law of the land and is in place in Indiana just as it is in every state nationwide. This applies to gun dealers regardless if at a gun show or their shop.
2. Straw sales of a firearm are illegal. No exceptions.
3. Multiple sales of firearms are reported to the BATFE and can be denied during the instant background check. (Ref: Federal Form 4473 and Multiple Sales addendum)
6. Illegal drug traffic is the root cause of most fatal criminal activity in the US and Chicago .
7. Possession of a firearm by criminals, the mentally flawed, illegal aliens, etc., are persons denied sale of firearms by current federal statute. (GCA 1968)
8. Legally possessed firearms are used in less than 1/2 of 1% of all crime in the US . (FBI Uniform Crime Report)
9. Since the NFA of 1934 there has been only two instances of a legally owned fully automatic weapon used in a crime. Both crimes committed by police officers in the state of Ohio, yet no one mentions disarming police.
10. The Brady definition of an “assault weapon” is not only incorrect; it is deliberately misleading in an attempt to persuade opinion using fear tactics. An assault weapon is a ‘selective fire’ carbine with fully automatic capability. (Made illegal to own, as well as all other fully automatic guns, by NFA of 1936 without an NFA license and annual tax stamp on each NFA covered device. See item #9) The Brady campaign includes all “black guns” as assault weapons regardless of their lack of fully automatic fire potential. It is like an Indy car with a mini van engine, looks fast but has nothing special when you push the gas pedal. This is a typical tactic of the Brady anti-gun agenda.
I have personally been at hundreds of shooting events with thousands of guns in the hands of thousands of people over the last 42 years and have never seen a single person hurt by an errant or deliberate shot. Of course the Star would never cover an event like The Indiana State Trapshoot which was held in July for the 118th year with a thousand competitors on the northeast side of the Indianapolis area. Nor would the Star cover an event like The Grand American which is one of the oldest sporting events in the world dating back to 1893. It is now held in Sparta , Illinois just down state from Chicago . Currently over 7,000 competitors and thousands of spectators and vendors participate with thousands of guns, and guess what, not a single shooting victim. Nor would the Star even consider sending a reporter to The National Matches at Camp Perry , Ohio to witness firsthand civilian and military rifle and pistol competition. Held since 1907 everyone from America ’s best to the average Joe competes against each other. But alas, with thousands of loaded guns, there is no firearm crime as they have in the restrictive gun law utopia of modern day Chicago .
You might want to consider the words of another writer of articles, pamphlets, and books:
“… arms … discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…. Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them.” - Thomas Paine
And this writer, not a Brady staffer, but he knows a little something about gun laws:
"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." - Thomas Jefferson
Again, please cancel my subscription to the Star.
Regards,
Mark
Any Star subscribers should cancel too, I waited too long...
cc: Circulation Dept.
The Indianapolis Star
PO Box 145
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145
To The Editor of The Star;
As a continuous subscriber of both the Indianapolis News, until its demise, and the Indianapolis Star since 1976, as well as being a paper carrier for The News from 1963 until 1972, this does not come easy. The September 4, 2012 Our Opinion editorial by the Star’s staff misleadingly titled Easy Gun Access Isn’t Neighborly is the last straw in our 49 year relationship. Please cancel my subscription when this month’s automatic debit runs out.
While I have an open mind to real facts on both sides of an issue I will not financially support a business that tries to influence the population toward further restrictions of my rights and interests by circulating the slanted talking points and statistics of anti-gun organizations including the Brady gun control campaign without checking the facts. The article was obviously written by staffers who have neither experienced purchasing a firearm nor even researched the state and federal laws pertaining to the purchase and ownership of a firearm. Minimal research on your part would have de-bunked the Brady claims. Simple logic was also lacking in the piece.
If “easy access” to firearms in Indiana and other surrounding states is the cause killing so many Chicago residents why do we not have the same problem here and in other cities in other “easy access” states? The true cause of all the mayhem in the windy city is Chicago ’s draconian gun prohibition that makes easy victims of its residents. Even after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chicago residents’ right to own a firearm Chicago’s anti-gun mayor quickly wrote and enacted new laws to prohibit possessing a firearm outside of the ‘living area’ of their homes. Current Illinois law prohibits its citizens from carrying concealed weapons. A perfect example of how laws only affect the law abiding. And a Chicago resident cannot legally use a gun for protection on their own property outside of their ‘living area’ and that does not even include their garage. Law breakers will never comply with the laws. If they did they would honor the anti-murder laws enacted over two centuries ago. This is why Thomas Jefferson wrote that one should “be at all times armed”.
Besides the Chicago and Illinois laws ignored in the Star’s opinion article, here are a few other issues that might have altered the article had you done your own research:
1. The instant background check is the law of the land and is in place in Indiana just as it is in every state nationwide. This applies to gun dealers regardless if at a gun show or their shop.
2. Straw sales of a firearm are illegal. No exceptions.
3. Multiple sales of firearms are reported to the BATFE and can be denied during the instant background check. (Ref: Federal Form 4473 and Multiple Sales addendum)
6. Illegal drug traffic is the root cause of most fatal criminal activity in the US and Chicago .
7. Possession of a firearm by criminals, the mentally flawed, illegal aliens, etc., are persons denied sale of firearms by current federal statute. (GCA 1968)
8. Legally possessed firearms are used in less than 1/2 of 1% of all crime in the US . (FBI Uniform Crime Report)
9. Since the NFA of 1934 there has been only two instances of a legally owned fully automatic weapon used in a crime. Both crimes committed by police officers in the state of Ohio, yet no one mentions disarming police.
10. The Brady definition of an “assault weapon” is not only incorrect; it is deliberately misleading in an attempt to persuade opinion using fear tactics. An assault weapon is a ‘selective fire’ carbine with fully automatic capability. (Made illegal to own, as well as all other fully automatic guns, by NFA of 1936 without an NFA license and annual tax stamp on each NFA covered device. See item #9) The Brady campaign includes all “black guns” as assault weapons regardless of their lack of fully automatic fire potential. It is like an Indy car with a mini van engine, looks fast but has nothing special when you push the gas pedal. This is a typical tactic of the Brady anti-gun agenda.
I have personally been at hundreds of shooting events with thousands of guns in the hands of thousands of people over the last 42 years and have never seen a single person hurt by an errant or deliberate shot. Of course the Star would never cover an event like The Indiana State Trapshoot which was held in July for the 118th year with a thousand competitors on the northeast side of the Indianapolis area. Nor would the Star cover an event like The Grand American which is one of the oldest sporting events in the world dating back to 1893. It is now held in Sparta , Illinois just down state from Chicago . Currently over 7,000 competitors and thousands of spectators and vendors participate with thousands of guns, and guess what, not a single shooting victim. Nor would the Star even consider sending a reporter to The National Matches at Camp Perry , Ohio to witness firsthand civilian and military rifle and pistol competition. Held since 1907 everyone from America ’s best to the average Joe competes against each other. But alas, with thousands of loaded guns, there is no firearm crime as they have in the restrictive gun law utopia of modern day Chicago .
You might want to consider the words of another writer of articles, pamphlets, and books:
“… arms … discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…. Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them.” - Thomas Paine
And this writer, not a Brady staffer, but he knows a little something about gun laws:
"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." - Thomas Jefferson
Again, please cancel my subscription to the Star.
Regards,
Mark
Any Star subscribers should cancel too, I waited too long...
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