From the Atlanta Constitution:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/tuesday/opinion_9 3e0377a541b80f6006c.html
Gun industry shoots itself in the foot
Tuesday, May 2, 2000
Anyone who contends America is safer because of its unfettered access to guns ought to stare long and hard at the photos of 2-year-old Anthony Grimes --- battling for his life in the intensive-care unit of an Atlanta hospital.
Little Anthony is Atlanta's latest victim of road rage. A baby who loved everybody --- even strangers --- has been clinging to life since April 21 because some hothead fired a bullet into the truck that Anthony's father was driving along I-20, 35 miles west of downtown Atlanta. That bullet ripped through the sleeping baby's shoulder and the side of his face.
If Anthony is not enough evidence of a gun culture run amok, think of the five innocent people killed in Pittsburgh on Friday, reportedly by a former Atlanta lawyer. Or the seven children shot while visiting the National Zoo in Washington last week. As John Calhoun, president of the National Crime Prevention Council says, "We have officially crossed all the sacred thresholds where children should be safe --- churches, day care centers, schools and now national landmarks like the National Zoo.''
Yet, the gun industry remains defiant of even minimal efforts to make its products less dangerous. When motorists complained about the carnage on our roads, the auto industry responded with a slew of new safety features that effectively lowered injuries and fatalities. How does the gun industry react to public demands for safer guns?
Flouting the public, gun makers are seeking to block any attempt to impose on them basic safety requirements. They filed suit last week against the federal government and 16 communities, including Atlanta, over a plan to give purchasing preference to gun manufacturers that sign an agreement to design safer guns. So far, only Smith & Wesson has signed the pact; 190 municipalities have agreed to give the company a leg up when buying guns for their law enforcement officials.
The pact does not require extraordinary concessions by gun makers, only common-sense safety efforts that can help save innocent lives. The agreement requires gun makers to install gun locks on all their weapons, introduce ''smart gun'' technology and bar sales of their products at gun shows without a background check.
The lawsuit represents an act of desperation by the gun industry and a giant public relations blunder. At their own peril, gun makers are ignoring the intensifying demand from voters that guns meet the basic safety measures expected of toasters and teddy bears.
The gun industry, joined by the National Rifle Association, has begun an expensive media campaign to persuade Americans there are enough gun laws on the books. But those existing gun laws come into play only after the gun has been used in a crime and the bodies have been tagged and sent to the morgue.
Unbeknownst to members of the gun lobby, they're actually bolstering the case for stronger gun control when they behave contemptuously toward pleas for modest safety measures.
© 2000 Cox Interactive Media
-- 30 --
They have a forum at: http://www.accessatlanta.com/HyperNews/hn/get.cgi/peoplechat/forums/forum-112.html?
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited May 02, 2000).]
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/tuesday/opinion_9 3e0377a541b80f6006c.html
Gun industry shoots itself in the foot
Tuesday, May 2, 2000
Anyone who contends America is safer because of its unfettered access to guns ought to stare long and hard at the photos of 2-year-old Anthony Grimes --- battling for his life in the intensive-care unit of an Atlanta hospital.
Little Anthony is Atlanta's latest victim of road rage. A baby who loved everybody --- even strangers --- has been clinging to life since April 21 because some hothead fired a bullet into the truck that Anthony's father was driving along I-20, 35 miles west of downtown Atlanta. That bullet ripped through the sleeping baby's shoulder and the side of his face.
If Anthony is not enough evidence of a gun culture run amok, think of the five innocent people killed in Pittsburgh on Friday, reportedly by a former Atlanta lawyer. Or the seven children shot while visiting the National Zoo in Washington last week. As John Calhoun, president of the National Crime Prevention Council says, "We have officially crossed all the sacred thresholds where children should be safe --- churches, day care centers, schools and now national landmarks like the National Zoo.''
Yet, the gun industry remains defiant of even minimal efforts to make its products less dangerous. When motorists complained about the carnage on our roads, the auto industry responded with a slew of new safety features that effectively lowered injuries and fatalities. How does the gun industry react to public demands for safer guns?
Flouting the public, gun makers are seeking to block any attempt to impose on them basic safety requirements. They filed suit last week against the federal government and 16 communities, including Atlanta, over a plan to give purchasing preference to gun manufacturers that sign an agreement to design safer guns. So far, only Smith & Wesson has signed the pact; 190 municipalities have agreed to give the company a leg up when buying guns for their law enforcement officials.
The pact does not require extraordinary concessions by gun makers, only common-sense safety efforts that can help save innocent lives. The agreement requires gun makers to install gun locks on all their weapons, introduce ''smart gun'' technology and bar sales of their products at gun shows without a background check.
The lawsuit represents an act of desperation by the gun industry and a giant public relations blunder. At their own peril, gun makers are ignoring the intensifying demand from voters that guns meet the basic safety measures expected of toasters and teddy bears.
The gun industry, joined by the National Rifle Association, has begun an expensive media campaign to persuade Americans there are enough gun laws on the books. But those existing gun laws come into play only after the gun has been used in a crime and the bodies have been tagged and sent to the morgue.
Unbeknownst to members of the gun lobby, they're actually bolstering the case for stronger gun control when they behave contemptuously toward pleas for modest safety measures.
© 2000 Cox Interactive Media
-- 30 --
They have a forum at: http://www.accessatlanta.com/HyperNews/hn/get.cgi/peoplechat/forums/forum-112.html?
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited May 02, 2000).]
What a bunch of total crapola