I found the following in the Richardson News this morning (Richardson is a suburb of Dallas, TX). It's fairly long, so pull up a chair and stay a while. This is not official news, as far as I know. It is simply a commentary in the editorial section.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><center>Violence points to loophole in gun control</center>
A woman lost her life yesterday. Violently, by her own hand.
The lady in question entered an area indoor shooting range, paid her fee for a place to shoot at a target, rented a handgun, went in and proceeded to kill herself.
I do not know what brought her to the point of rejecting her life in such a terrible manner. What is important is that she was in an utter state of despair, even at an age--according to the Plano police--still in her thirties, and not only was there evidently no help for her (or, if she had rejected help as she subsequently rejected life itself) how easy it was for her to acqire her means of dispatch.
I am a gun owner.
I have been a shooter since childhood, even shot competition while in the military during the Korean war, and have never committed a crime nor for a moment considered using my weapon upon myself.
We know that there are despairing people in this world. You have only to watch the nightly news to see examples of poverty and misery practically in out own backyards.
It doesn't take a MENSA I.Q. to recognize mental instability in many of them. Any fool knows, of course, that we cannot target and help all of them, or for that matter more than a fraction of the poor benighted souls. What we should do is attempt to at least make it difficult for them to do away with themselves in a public place.
My point is this. You rent a firearm to someone who has no more credentials than a driver's license, and you have just laid open a deadly hive of tragedy. We make it difficult now for a felon to purchase a handgun but present the means of renting one to virtually anyone without question.
No, I am not beating the owners of the shooting range where the poor woman bid her most precious possession goodbye, because they were obeying the law as it is written.
I am castigating those who attempt to make incredibly more stringent laws governing everyday people and yet cavalierly ignore such an egregious loophole. It should be at least as difficult to rent a lethal weapon as it is to purchase one. You want to rent a gun? Fine. Call up a day ahead an furnish them the information to check you out.
I'm not all that concerned about a felon renting a firearm and going berserk with it in the shop. What with practically everybody in ther being armed to the teeth, any felon idiot enough to attempt such a thing would be gunned down in an instant.
No, rather than check out such a person for a criminal background, concentrate on the person's emotional and mental background. If they are known to have a history of drug addiction, mental illness, of the like, it will probably be on record. If so, don't rent them a weapon.
Note than I have suggested a reqirement for gun renters to call ahead 24 hours before picking up the piece. Anyone who has purchased a handgun knows that the idea of a 15-minute check is rediculous. Most likely you will be put on what is called: "DELAY." Which means that you will probably be given permission or denial some time in the next day.
For purchase, the time limit is three days or if no notification is given by then, the prospective buyer is free to go ahead and pick up his purchase. A flawed system, but better than none whatsoever, most will agree. However, a 24-hour wait for confirmation is sufficient for renters, I believe, since their members are far fewer than those actually buying hardware to shoot with.
I will surely take some flak about my views on this, and will be condemned by a looney few as an anti-gun type. If you can label a handgun owner and enthusiastic shooter like myself anti-gun. At one time I even belonged to the NRA, at least until Moses took over and began making lunatic remarks all over the place.
Mr. Heston is a fine actor, but a truism about actors (and I spent 20 years in the Hollywood film industry) is that if you point a camera in their faces long enough, eventually they will find a way to verbally shoot themselves in the foot. No, make that feet.
To sum up, you bet your sweet bippy, I treasure my Second Amendment rights, but when it comes to obeying a set of commandments, I'll stick to the ones God gave the real Moses to deliver.
NRA, go find your own Golden Calf to dismember. Leave mine alone.
Phil Stuart is a North Dallas free-lance writer and frequent contributor to the Richardson News.[/quote]
********************************************
OK. Now for my comments.
A. I have not yet heard any official news about the incident that suppossedly took place at the Bullet Trap (the only indoor range in Plano). Not even a blurb on the news, and not even a one-liner in the back of the Metropolitan section of the Dallas Morning News. I will, of course, try to confirm the incident. I will be at the range in the morning after work.
B. Regarding the suicide, Mr. Stuart, your heart's in the right place, but what good will it do? Are you also implying that we should require a waiting period on rope (hangings), gasoline (carbon monoxide poisoning), and razor blades (slashed wrists)? Same song and dance--what about cars, matches, axes, yada, yada, yada? If someone wants to take his/her own life, and they are serious doing it, not just getting attention, they will find a way.
C. "What we should do is attempt to at least make it difficult for them to do away with themselves in a public place." Huh? What's the difference between committing suicide in private or public? Would you rather them commit suicide in private so they can sit there and rot for a few days? Maybe the authorities will find out about the suicide after someone reports a wretched stench. To be honest, I never enjoyed seeing suicides. But I hate seeing stinkers even more.
D. I don't know how much of a shooting enthusiast Mr. Stuart is, but he obviously doesn't realize the direction that gun legislation is sending us. HEY MR. STUART!!! EVER HEARD OF ENGLAND??? HOW ABOUT AUSTRALIA??? If he won't renew his membership with the NRA because he simply dislikes the president, he apparently isn't as serious about his Second Amendment rights as he claims, as far as I'm concerned.
OK. Now for you guys. What do you folks think?
[This message has been edited by Bulldog (edited July 05, 1999).]
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><center>Violence points to loophole in gun control</center>
A woman lost her life yesterday. Violently, by her own hand.
The lady in question entered an area indoor shooting range, paid her fee for a place to shoot at a target, rented a handgun, went in and proceeded to kill herself.
I do not know what brought her to the point of rejecting her life in such a terrible manner. What is important is that she was in an utter state of despair, even at an age--according to the Plano police--still in her thirties, and not only was there evidently no help for her (or, if she had rejected help as she subsequently rejected life itself) how easy it was for her to acqire her means of dispatch.
I am a gun owner.
I have been a shooter since childhood, even shot competition while in the military during the Korean war, and have never committed a crime nor for a moment considered using my weapon upon myself.
We know that there are despairing people in this world. You have only to watch the nightly news to see examples of poverty and misery practically in out own backyards.
It doesn't take a MENSA I.Q. to recognize mental instability in many of them. Any fool knows, of course, that we cannot target and help all of them, or for that matter more than a fraction of the poor benighted souls. What we should do is attempt to at least make it difficult for them to do away with themselves in a public place.
My point is this. You rent a firearm to someone who has no more credentials than a driver's license, and you have just laid open a deadly hive of tragedy. We make it difficult now for a felon to purchase a handgun but present the means of renting one to virtually anyone without question.
No, I am not beating the owners of the shooting range where the poor woman bid her most precious possession goodbye, because they were obeying the law as it is written.
I am castigating those who attempt to make incredibly more stringent laws governing everyday people and yet cavalierly ignore such an egregious loophole. It should be at least as difficult to rent a lethal weapon as it is to purchase one. You want to rent a gun? Fine. Call up a day ahead an furnish them the information to check you out.
I'm not all that concerned about a felon renting a firearm and going berserk with it in the shop. What with practically everybody in ther being armed to the teeth, any felon idiot enough to attempt such a thing would be gunned down in an instant.
No, rather than check out such a person for a criminal background, concentrate on the person's emotional and mental background. If they are known to have a history of drug addiction, mental illness, of the like, it will probably be on record. If so, don't rent them a weapon.
Note than I have suggested a reqirement for gun renters to call ahead 24 hours before picking up the piece. Anyone who has purchased a handgun knows that the idea of a 15-minute check is rediculous. Most likely you will be put on what is called: "DELAY." Which means that you will probably be given permission or denial some time in the next day.
For purchase, the time limit is three days or if no notification is given by then, the prospective buyer is free to go ahead and pick up his purchase. A flawed system, but better than none whatsoever, most will agree. However, a 24-hour wait for confirmation is sufficient for renters, I believe, since their members are far fewer than those actually buying hardware to shoot with.
I will surely take some flak about my views on this, and will be condemned by a looney few as an anti-gun type. If you can label a handgun owner and enthusiastic shooter like myself anti-gun. At one time I even belonged to the NRA, at least until Moses took over and began making lunatic remarks all over the place.
Mr. Heston is a fine actor, but a truism about actors (and I spent 20 years in the Hollywood film industry) is that if you point a camera in their faces long enough, eventually they will find a way to verbally shoot themselves in the foot. No, make that feet.
To sum up, you bet your sweet bippy, I treasure my Second Amendment rights, but when it comes to obeying a set of commandments, I'll stick to the ones God gave the real Moses to deliver.
NRA, go find your own Golden Calf to dismember. Leave mine alone.
Phil Stuart is a North Dallas free-lance writer and frequent contributor to the Richardson News.[/quote]
********************************************
OK. Now for my comments.
A. I have not yet heard any official news about the incident that suppossedly took place at the Bullet Trap (the only indoor range in Plano). Not even a blurb on the news, and not even a one-liner in the back of the Metropolitan section of the Dallas Morning News. I will, of course, try to confirm the incident. I will be at the range in the morning after work.
B. Regarding the suicide, Mr. Stuart, your heart's in the right place, but what good will it do? Are you also implying that we should require a waiting period on rope (hangings), gasoline (carbon monoxide poisoning), and razor blades (slashed wrists)? Same song and dance--what about cars, matches, axes, yada, yada, yada? If someone wants to take his/her own life, and they are serious doing it, not just getting attention, they will find a way.
C. "What we should do is attempt to at least make it difficult for them to do away with themselves in a public place." Huh? What's the difference between committing suicide in private or public? Would you rather them commit suicide in private so they can sit there and rot for a few days? Maybe the authorities will find out about the suicide after someone reports a wretched stench. To be honest, I never enjoyed seeing suicides. But I hate seeing stinkers even more.
D. I don't know how much of a shooting enthusiast Mr. Stuart is, but he obviously doesn't realize the direction that gun legislation is sending us. HEY MR. STUART!!! EVER HEARD OF ENGLAND??? HOW ABOUT AUSTRALIA??? If he won't renew his membership with the NRA because he simply dislikes the president, he apparently isn't as serious about his Second Amendment rights as he claims, as far as I'm concerned.
OK. Now for you guys. What do you folks think?
[This message has been edited by Bulldog (edited July 05, 1999).]
