When I was a boy in rural northern Ohio, I inherited a .22-caliber
rifle from my older brother. I would take it out and roam through the
woods and fields and try to shoot anything wild that moved: crows, hawks,
rabbits, groundhogs and squirrels. Fortunately they were all smarter or
quicker than I was.
I never shot a thing, until finally one day a rabbit was a little too
slow, and I nailed it. Proud of myself, I ran over to my conquest.
There before me was the dead, eternally lifeless body that had fallen
victim to my bullet. The reality suddenly dawned on me what it meant to
kill another living creature, and I vowed never again to shoot to kill. I
never have.
My purpose herein is not to argue about the merits or demerits of
hunting but simply to state the glaringly obvious: that guns are designed
to kill.
People do kill people, as the gun proponents are so want to argue, but
it is made a heckuva lot easier with a gun in hand.
So now to the point and that is Keith Gouverneur's lambasting of state
Sen. Jack Scott (D-Glendale) and his Senate Bill 52 ("Scott's gun law
only adds to bureaucracy," March 21).
Keith, let's dump the fake rationale of "bureaucracy" and cost for
objecting to SB 52 and get to the real message, which undoubtedly is the
well known don't mess with my unalienable, unimpeded rights to guns no
matter who or how many needlessly die in gun violence.
This knee-jerk reaction by gun proponents to any form or suggestion of
gun control is irrational and self serving, to say the least.
Do I think SB 52 will stop gun violence? Of course not.
The problem obviously is multidimensional, requiring multidimensional
solutions. There is no silver bullet (sorry) to cure this curse, so it
must be attacked incrementally in every way possible.
Scott's proposed law requiring gun possessor handgun safety licensing
is an incremental step, which is not going to be a major burden on or
"punishment" of any law abiding and trulyconcerned citizen.
We are, however, burdened by horrendous gun violence everywhere, so we
cannot afford to neglect whatever we can do to move forward to reduce
this uniquely American public blood bath.
Go for it Sen. Scott. You have my support, and I'm sure the support of
thousands of others in our district and around the state.
ROBERT MORRISON
Glendale
