A letter sent to the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence
ENJOY!
Dear OCAGV,
My name is (My Name). I have worked as both a local law enforcement officer as well as a Federal Agent. I was directed to your website, and, after reading through your information, I have several concerns.
First, I believe that the notion that laws affect criminal behavior is a misguided one. In fact, the very definition of the word "criminal" is a person who chooses to disobey or ignore laws. So, if your goal is to prevent criminals from carrying guns, laws are not going to prevent this. If your goal is to make Ohio SAFER for criminals choosing to rape, murder, mug, rob, burglarize, steal, or otherwise cause mayhem, then your proposals are right on target. After all, if the people who choose to follow the law are disarmed, then the criminals will have less to fear from the intended victims. My goal, as a law enforcement officer, is to do my best to protect the law abiding public, which is why I choose to encourage law-abiding citizens to protect themselves by any means necessary against those who choose to take advantage of others.
A good example of this is the recent tragedy in Columbus, where an entire audience of law-abiding citizens was forced to watch as a single armed assailant (who seemed not to care a whit for your present gun laws) murdered four people. The entire crowd was disarmed into helplessness by the very laws you seek to bolster. Of course, all your organization could muster in response was that this was another example of how "guns" killed people, when actually it was a gun that ended the crisis. Strange how that officer's gun didn't keep on firing into the crowd at random since guns, by their very nature, are designed to kill innocent people?
Another prime example of how disarming the public tempts disaster is the World Trade Center tragedy in which nineteen men armed with nothing more than box-cutters kept entire planes full of passengers at bay until almost three thousand people were killed. And how are we now seeking to prevent future tragedies of this sort? By putting more people with GUNS on the flights. Curious that those guns aren't causing massive casualties by their very presence? Perhaps you should refocus your energies on banning box-cutters?
My thought is that you need to research the societies of England and Australia and see what has happened to their violent crime rates since the right to self protection was taken from the average subject.
England now is seeking to outlaw "assault knives" since in just one of their cities alone last year over 7,500 subjects were assaulted with knives. As well, their rate of "hot" burglaries is up over 60% in which burlars simply knock on the door and stab whoever answers before sauntering in and stealing at will. After all, no one inside is going to be armed for fear of being prosecuted for defending their home through violence!! The only problem the lawmakers there are facing is that 95% of the weapons being used are- you guessed it- kitchen knives!! This, apparently, is the society you seek.
As a law enforcement officer, I would ask that you redirect your energies and seek to increase the penalties for the actual criminal use of firearms. In this way, you will be taking those that choose to ignore the rape, murder, robbery, burglary, and assault laws off the streets. How much sense does it make to disarm the law-abiding public? Not much, in my estimation.
Sincerely,
(My Name)
I wonder what the response will be from the OCAGV???
