Need feedback on letter to editor of Virginian Pilot!

M

Mike Irwin

Staff
This is in response to the editorial about CCW in today's Pilot.

Please comment before I sent it off to this guy...

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Dear Mr. Sorensen:

Congratulations! The Virginian-Pilot has just joined the major leagues of editorial writing! This isn't a compliment, though, it's a shameful indictment of today's (09/07/2000) on-line editorial "Some who are licensed to carry weapons commit crimes."

With this editorial, your paper has joined the ranks of other rabidly anti-gun papers such as The Washington Post and the New York Times in using half-truths, faulty studies, poorly assembled statistics, and outright lies in an attempt to further a particular agenda.

Reviewing the Texas "statistics" in the editorial, it appears that they were lifted directly from two reports from the Violence Policy Center, which were issued in 1998 and 1999.

Unfortunately for the V-P, however, these reports were so flawed, and so misleading, that they are virtually worthless. The V-P has fallen into the VPC's rhetoric and made the critical error of equating arrests with convictions. In fact, a follow-up study by H. Sterling Burnett, under the auspices of the National Center for Policy Analysis (http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba324/ba324.html), shows that of those Texans arrested for violent crimes, fully 55 percent of them were cleared of the crimes for which they were arrested.

Further, the VPC study made no distinction between crimes committed with a concealed weapon as opposed to crimes committed generally. And finally, as Mr. Burnett points out, holders of Texas CCW permits are found to be MORE law-abiding than the general population.

While firm numbers are not available for Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other states that have similar "shall issue" policies, this trend seems to hold true -- that those with Concealed Weapons Permits are more law abiding -- as well.

Simply put, this editorial is sensationalism at the very worst, the type that I would expect to see next to the checkout at the supermarket. What next? An editorial entitled "Some who are licensed to drive cars commit crimes"?

M. R. Irwin
Fairfax, Virginia
 
Mike,
I like it. I like the fact that you included contrasting research. You were direct without resorting to name-calling.
I live near Norfolk and have had letters published in the Daily Press but they were cut short and re-worded to some extent by the editor. Man, that irritated me. The letters retained most of their meaning, however. I wish you luck. Let us know if/when it makes it into press.

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Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules.Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
 
What's their mailing address? An analysis of Texas crime stats showed that someone without a LTC was 547 times more likely to commit a crime than someone with a LTC. That's a difference the press should print.
 
Great letter and well written, Mike. If you want to include it, the Texas Department of Public Safety makes all statistics regarding concealed handgun licensing available on the web (although the info is usually not real timely).
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/chlsindex.htm

I think the NCPA study highlights the facts much better though. Raw data usually just reinforces whatever prejudices you have going in... One thing the DPS site does make abundantly clear is the low conviction rate for those arrested - as well as the nature of some of the crimes (including things like Administrative revocation or failure to update address)
 
The V-P is a liberal effing rag.

Which is what I tell everyone of their salespeople.

I just ignore them now. It wasn't worth my time and effort to teach a pig to sing.

Good luck getting it published...

TR
 
Mike well-written, though maybe a bit long for a "letter to the editor." However, as The Rock said, the Pilot is a rather liberal rag (except when it comes to Navy spending, funny how that works).

In Virginia, the pundits have been promising "Wild West" gun battles ever since the CCW bill was passed back in the mid-1990s. Despite the deafening lack of shootouts involving CCWers, they still continue to predict death and destruction on a daily basis.
 
It's an infuriating editorial. The only consolation is that it's an editorial, which most people don't bother to read. Editorials aren't read because they're pompous and self-righteous and buried inside the paper. I hope the paper prints your letter, tho, to at least set the record straight for those people who do bother to read the opinion page. Nice job.

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Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. -- Ambrose Bierce
 
Editorials can be dangerous - During the Missouri CCW vote last year, the different papers and TV stations made great mileage out of quoting each others editorials. It gives the manufactured statistics, etc., an air of legitimacy.
 
Bogie makes an excellent point that I hadn'r realized until he mentioned it.

These liberals don't care if anyone believes this drivel, they just do it so they can cross-reference each other.

All the more reason to inflict as much email pain on them and their owners.
 
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