So, I'm kicking out seven copies of this letter (see the cc: list,) and I'll post any cogent responses I get, if/when I get them.
I seriously doubt they're willing to entertain discussion with one of the "Great Unwashed," but hope springs infernal, no? If I do manage to get some discussion on the subject, I plan to take notes and let everyone know.
----- SNIP -----
President
Barack Hussein Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Mister President;
I
note with dismay that you are intending to enact more firearms control
legislation in the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School
on 14DEC2012.
While
I fully agree that this was a horrible event and could potentially have been
prevented, I do not feel that more firearms control legislation is the
answer. After all, how many laws were
broken in this act to begin with? We had:
-
Four counts of theft of a firearm (Bushmaster
XM-15, Glock 20, Sig-Sauer 9mm, and an unknown shotgun)
-
Two counts of underage possession of a handgun
-
Grand Theft Auto
-
Three violations of the “Gun-Free School Zone”
-
Twenty counts of unlawful homicide upon minors
-
Six counts of unlawful homicide upon adults
-
One count of vandalism in course of unlawful entry
(breaking into the school in the first place)
-
Two counts of assault with a deadly weapon (two
victims were shot, but not fatally)
I count that as
a total of thirty-five felony violations of law, and four counts that that may or
may not be felonies (violations of gun-free school zones, vandalism in the
course of unlawful entry.)
I also did not
list counts of unlawful property damage, as no list was given.
Now I ask you
sir – how can having more laws for
Lanza to have broken helped to prevent this sad occurrence? I have listed thirty-nine violations above, and I’m reasonably certain that that
list is not at all complete.
However, if
Lanza had displayed symptoms of potential emotional/psychological disturbance
prior to the shooting, I am highly inclined to think that having better access
to mental healthcare would have potentially had a greater positive effect to
prevent this incident than any action of law would have had.
Mister
President, I firmly believe that firearms control is not the answer we need. You
have gotten your Affordable Care Act passed, but how much if it addresses gaps
in the mental healthcare system?
(Granted, I have my doubts about psychiatric medicine being the answer, but psychological testing and counseling
should be far more available than they currently are.)
Therefore,
Mister President, I urge you to consider other solutions than simply banning
firearms – if for no better reason than that something cannot be “uninvented” –
like so many other developments throughout history, what was once the work of a
visionary is now the work of a skilled tradesman – or hobbyist.
I can think of
other potential solutions – or partial solutions – to this issue, but that
would be material for further discussion.
I firmly believe that making mental health services far more available
than they are would work to avert a great deal of unfortunate incidents in
today’s society, and this should be considered before any restrictive
regulations are enacted.
Mister
President, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you further.
Jon D. Kelley
San Jose, CA
CC: Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Senator
Harry Reid (D-NV. Majority Leader)
Senator
Mitch McConnell (R-KY. Minority Leader)
Representative
Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose, CA)
Representative
John Boehner (R-OH 8th. Speaker)
Representative
Eric I. Cantor (R-VA 7th.
Majority Leader)
Representative
Nancy P. D. Pelosi (D-CA 8th.
Minority Leader)
----- SNIP -----
The base letter is written to President Obama, but I've added some individual comments with letters as indicated.
Discuss.
No comments:
Post a Comment