PRO 2A readers respond to Cynthia Tucker's Anti gun article AJC 10 - 13- 02

WAGCEVP · October 20, 2002, 08:18 PM

AJC Columnist Cynthia Tucker wrote one of her usual misinfo anti gunowner op eds on Oct 13. Following are some pretty good pro gun letters to the editor in today's (Sun AJC)

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Gun regulation
Responses to Cynthia Tucker's column "Gun regulation opponents are the real crazies,"
@issue, Oct. 13
Ballistic fingerprint can easily be changed

WRITE US
• Send a letter to the editor

Cynthia Tucker has shown her ignorance once again by stating, "If every gun were fired before it was sold and a record kept of the marks it made on bullets or shell casings, law enforcement agencies would have a registry that they could use to compare to bullets or casings found at the scene of a crime."

As anyone who knows anything about firearms knows, the ballistics "fingerprint" can be changed in a matter of seconds. I can fire one round, and before anyone can even read the ballistics fingerprint, I can change that fingerprint on the second round so that it could never be connected to the first round.

I am not a gun expert or a gun nut. I have been around firearms for more than 40 years, since I was about 4 years old shooting .22s on the farm and later using .223s for Uncle Sam.

AL SHELTON
Atlanta

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Banning hunting guns won't help catch sniper

I wondered how long it would be before the liberals weighed in with their whining about "sniper rifles" and calls for further restrictions on firearms. Having banned "Saturday Night Specials" (remember them?) and "assault" rifles, they will now seek the abolition of hunting guns. After all, that's what this despicable moron in Maryland is doing, isn't he? He's just "hunting" people instead of culling deer.

The sniper is more likely to be stopped by a law-abiding gun owner than by a SWAT team. In a situation where average people are being targeted while going about their everyday activities, the odds are greater that an armed civilian instead of a dedicated law enforcement officer will bring this terrorist down. Liberals like Cynthia Tucker and the Brady Bunch need to stop trying to advance their political agendas on the blood of others.

ROBERT WEBB
Morganton

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Problem is people, not their weapons

Cynthia Tucker makes strange arguments in her attack on "gun crazies." She says we don't assess risk properly because we protect against anthrax, which only killed five, yet we sell guns which killed more than 28,000.

But anthrax will never be a weapon of self-protection. Who would want it to be . . . it has no stopping power.

When will gun phobics realize the problem is in the human being, not in the impersonal steel? Heck, cars kill more than 50,000; let's outlaw them and regulate bicycles.

JOHN STEINER
Marietta

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Misconceptions fuel opponents' arguments

Cynthia Tucker does not break down the suicides, justifiable shootings or law enforcement shootings when she cites the number of deaths from guns. Second, she makes the same mistake of "gun-show loopholes" that do not exist. Federal firearms dealers at all gun shows are required by law to perform a check. Another lie the anti-gun establishment uses: Guns are easily accessible at gun shows to criminals.

Third, she equates vehicle ownership with gun ownership. The two cannot be compared. Vehicle ownership is a privilege; firearm ownership is a right.

MICHAEL HERNANDEZ
Hernandez is president of the New Mexico Gun Collectors Association.

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Government registry can go to new level

Here is a logical equivalent to Cynthia Tucker's argument for a government gun registry.

Attention, all males in Georgia: You are hereby notified to report to your local county courthouse to provide a sperm sample for storage into a new government sperm registry.

We have a serious problem with unsolved sex crimes. To assist law enforcement in solving these cases, we need this database to allow them to quickly identify the perpetrator of the crime. If you have not committed a crime, you have nothing to worry about.

Note: If I were a criminal and I knew that my gun's "fingerprint" was on record, wouldn't I find a round metal file and alter the contours of my gun's barrel so the markings on the bullet would be altered so as not to match what was in the registry?

RONALD BARR
Fayetteville

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Regulation ineffective

Those who think further gun regulation would have prevented the sniper attacks from occurring are the real crazies. Drugs are illegal -- the ultimate regulation -- and still tens of thousands die from drug-related incidents. Driver's licenses are regulated, and more people die in car accidents than gun-related incidents every year.

Even the air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat are regulated, and we continue to get sick year after year. Regulation does not prevent tragedy.

TRACI MOXSON
Atlanta

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Try profiling instead

Cynthia Tucker is an idiot. A ballistics check can be thwarted by something as simple as running a file through the barrel a couple of times. A mountain of work for naught.

If you really want to stop insane/mentally defective people from committing foolish and hurtful acts, concentrate on detecting who would cause problems, whether with a weapon or pen.

Wait a minute! Would that be profiling? I wonder how that would play with Tucker's ilk?

MICHAEL CARTER
Bay Minette, Ala.

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Most owners use their firearms safely

If firearms should be banned because they kill 28,000 people, should tobacco be banned? What about cars? They kill more than 50,000 people every year.

Tobacco is inherently made to addict and kill. Firearms are meant to protect and feed. The majority of owners use them safely. Any product used illegally violates the manufacturers' intent, except those who produce tobacco.

Cynthia Tucker wouldn't be able to determine what is a hunting rifle and what is used for military use even if it bit her on her heinie. She is just for gun confiscation, period!

DONALD E. SEGAL
Alpharetta

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Criminals have shown they won't follow law

Cynthia Tucker writes, "If every gun were fired before it was sold and a record kept of the marks it made on bullets or shell casings, law enforcement agencies would have a registry that they could use to compare to bullets or casings found at the scene of a crime." This is the usual fallacy of gun control fanatics -- they think criminals are going to be law-abiding and not change the firing pins or other elements identifying a gun to be used in a crime which would make such a registry useless.

I don't think so! Criminals, by definition, are the ones who do not obey the laws and regulations.

CLAY WILLIS
Woodstock

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No way police can guarantee protection

Cynthia Tucker's column is typical of liberal tactics: "If you can't defend your position, attack your opponent."

Is it crazy to want to protect one's family and property? I think not.

For Tucker to ask me to give up my Second Amendment right to protect myself is, although unspoken, the same as asking me to place 100 percent trust in law enforcement to guarantee my protection.

Also, she failed to mention one important point about the Washington sniper. At one shooting, a police officer was within close proximity of one of the victims.

Tell you what, Ms. Tucker: You support a law that guarantees me 100 percent protection, and that I can sue the police if they fail in that protection, then you can have my gun. If you ask me, however, either position is crazy.

Till then, my family will be protected by Smith & Wesson four nights per week; let the would-be attacker choose the night.

JOHN MARTINEZ
Newnan

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Cynthia Tucker can be excused for her ignorance of gun technology but not for her misrepresentation of facts. The Washington sniper is not using what is considered a high-powered rifle, and her attempt to describe its accuracy and armor capability is false.

Also, a "sniper" rifle is anything used by a sniper. This is a media-invented term, designed to evoke emotion, just like "assault weapon."

A few other points:

The number presented as killed by firearms in 2000 (28,663) is inflated to misrepresent the truth. More than half that number are suicides. There is absolutely no evidence linking suicides to availability of firearms. It also includes police shootings and self-defense.
The Sept. 11 terrorists used no guns at all.
It is already illegal for Georgians to become "gun runners" (known as a straw purchase).
Ballistic fingerprinting is worthless for crime solving. The imprints are easily changed intentionally and/or with normal wear.
|DENNIS PUTNAM
Loganville

**Bud Helms** · October 20, 2002, 09:08 PM

"... Till then, my family will be protected by Smith & Wesson four nights per week; let the would-be attacker choose the night."

JOHN MARTINEZ
Newnan

*****************

'Sup wid dat?

**Art Eatman** · October 21, 2002, 12:13 AM

sensop, it's a variant of "This property protected by armed guard four nights a week. You guess which nights."

Pore lil Cynthia-poo. She and Tom Teepen never have figured out the reality of the whole bit of self-defense, guns in general, or the rights of a sovereign individual...

Nor a lot of other stuff, for that matter.

Art

Raistlin · October 21, 2002, 10:49 AM

Apparently, either all or the majority of responses were pro-gun; usually when the Urinal-Constipation prints reader responses, they try to run letters from both sides of the issue.

Must not have been enough anti- letters to publish....

**Bud Helms** · October 21, 2002, 11:08 AM

Ah! Art, I get it!

October 20, 2002, 08:18 PM	#1
WAGCEVP Senior Member Join Date: August 13, 2000 Location: Georgia Posts: 1,995	PRO 2A readers respond to Cynthia Tucker's Anti gun article AJC 10 - 13- 02 AJC Columnist Cynthia Tucker wrote one of her usual misinfo anti gunowner op eds on Oct 13. Following are some pretty good pro gun letters to the editor in today's (Sun AJC) ____________ Gun regulation Responses to Cynthia Tucker's column "Gun regulation opponents are the real crazies," @issue, Oct. 13 Ballistic fingerprint can easily be changed WRITE US • Send a letter to the editor Cynthia Tucker has shown her ignorance once again by stating, "If every gun were fired before it was sold and a record kept of the marks it made on bullets or shell casings, law enforcement agencies would have a registry that they could use to compare to bullets or casings found at the scene of a crime." As anyone who knows anything about firearms knows, the ballistics "fingerprint" can be changed in a matter of seconds. I can fire one round, and before anyone can even read the ballistics fingerprint, I can change that fingerprint on the second round so that it could never be connected to the first round. I am not a gun expert or a gun nut. I have been around firearms for more than 40 years, since I was about 4 years old shooting .22s on the farm and later using .223s for Uncle Sam. AL SHELTON Atlanta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Banning hunting guns won't help catch sniper I wondered how long it would be before the liberals weighed in with their whining about "sniper rifles" and calls for further restrictions on firearms. Having banned "Saturday Night Specials" (remember them?) and "assault" rifles, they will now seek the abolition of hunting guns. After all, that's what this despicable moron in Maryland is doing, isn't he? He's just "hunting" people instead of culling deer. The sniper is more likely to be stopped by a law-abiding gun owner than by a SWAT team. In a situation where average people are being targeted while going about their everyday activities, the odds are greater that an armed civilian instead of a dedicated law enforcement officer will bring this terrorist down. Liberals like Cynthia Tucker and the Brady Bunch need to stop trying to advance their political agendas on the blood of others. ROBERT WEBB Morganton -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Problem is people, not their weapons Cynthia Tucker makes strange arguments in her attack on "gun crazies." She says we don't assess risk properly because we protect against anthrax, which only killed five, yet we sell guns which killed more than 28,000. But anthrax will never be a weapon of self-protection. Who would want it to be . . . it has no stopping power. When will gun phobics realize the problem is in the human being, not in the impersonal steel? Heck, cars kill more than 50,000; let's outlaw them and regulate bicycles. JOHN STEINER Marietta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Misconceptions fuel opponents' arguments Cynthia Tucker does not break down the suicides, justifiable shootings or law enforcement shootings when she cites the number of deaths from guns. Second, she makes the same mistake of "gun-show loopholes" that do not exist. Federal firearms dealers at all gun shows are required by law to perform a check. Another lie the anti-gun establishment uses: Guns are easily accessible at gun shows to criminals. Third, she equates vehicle ownership with gun ownership. The two cannot be compared. Vehicle ownership is a privilege; firearm ownership is a right. MICHAEL HERNANDEZ Hernandez is president of the New Mexico Gun Collectors Association. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Government registry can go to new level Here is a logical equivalent to Cynthia Tucker's argument for a government gun registry. Attention, all males in Georgia: You are hereby notified to report to your local county courthouse to provide a sperm sample for storage into a new government sperm registry. We have a serious problem with unsolved sex crimes. To assist law enforcement in solving these cases, we need this database to allow them to quickly identify the perpetrator of the crime. If you have not committed a crime, you have nothing to worry about. Note: If I were a criminal and I knew that my gun's "fingerprint" was on record, wouldn't I find a round metal file and alter the contours of my gun's barrel so the markings on the bullet would be altered so as not to match what was in the registry? RONALD BARR Fayetteville -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regulation ineffective Those who think further gun regulation would have prevented the sniper attacks from occurring are the real crazies. Drugs are illegal -- the ultimate regulation -- and still tens of thousands die from drug-related incidents. Driver's licenses are regulated, and more people die in car accidents than gun-related incidents every year. Even the air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat are regulated, and we continue to get sick year after year. Regulation does not prevent tragedy. TRACI MOXSON Atlanta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Try profiling instead Cynthia Tucker is an idiot. A ballistics check can be thwarted by something as simple as running a file through the barrel a couple of times. A mountain of work for naught. If you really want to stop insane/mentally defective people from committing foolish and hurtful acts, concentrate on detecting who would cause problems, whether with a weapon or pen. Wait a minute! Would that be profiling? I wonder how that would play with Tucker's ilk? MICHAEL CARTER Bay Minette, Ala. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most owners use their firearms safely If firearms should be banned because they kill 28,000 people, should tobacco be banned? What about cars? They kill more than 50,000 people every year. Tobacco is inherently made to addict and kill. Firearms are meant to protect and feed. The majority of owners use them safely. Any product used illegally violates the manufacturers' intent, except those who produce tobacco. Cynthia Tucker wouldn't be able to determine what is a hunting rifle and what is used for military use even if it bit her on her heinie. She is just for gun confiscation, period! DONALD E. SEGAL Alpharetta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Criminals have shown they won't follow law Cynthia Tucker writes, "If every gun were fired before it was sold and a record kept of the marks it made on bullets or shell casings, law enforcement agencies would have a registry that they could use to compare to bullets or casings found at the scene of a crime." This is the usual fallacy of gun control fanatics -- they think criminals are going to be law-abiding and not change the firing pins or other elements identifying a gun to be used in a crime which would make such a registry useless. I don't think so! Criminals, by definition, are the ones who do not obey the laws and regulations. CLAY WILLIS Woodstock -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No way police can guarantee protection Cynthia Tucker's column is typical of liberal tactics: "If you can't defend your position, attack your opponent." Is it crazy to want to protect one's family and property? I think not. For Tucker to ask me to give up my Second Amendment right to protect myself is, although unspoken, the same as asking me to place 100 percent trust in law enforcement to guarantee my protection. Also, she failed to mention one important point about the Washington sniper. At one shooting, a police officer was within close proximity of one of the victims. Tell you what, Ms. Tucker: You support a law that guarantees me 100 percent protection, and that I can sue the police if they fail in that protection, then you can have my gun. If you ask me, however, either position is crazy. Till then, my family will be protected by Smith & Wesson four nights per week; let the would-be attacker choose the night. JOHN MARTINEZ Newnan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynthia Tucker can be excused for her ignorance of gun technology but not for her misrepresentation of facts. The Washington sniper is not using what is considered a high-powered rifle, and her attempt to describe its accuracy and armor capability is false. Also, a "sniper" rifle is anything used by a sniper. This is a media-invented term, designed to evoke emotion, just like "assault weapon." A few other points: The number presented as killed by firearms in 2000 (28,663) is inflated to misrepresent the truth. More than half that number are suicides. There is absolutely no evidence linking suicides to availability of firearms. It also includes police shootings and self-defense. The Sept. 11 terrorists used no guns at all. It is already illegal for Georgians to become "gun runners" (known as a straw purchase). Ballistic fingerprinting is worthless for crime solving. The imprints are easily changed intentionally and/or with normal wear. \|DENNIS PUTNAM Loganville

October 20, 2002, 09:08 PM	#2
Bud Helms Staff Join Date: December 31, 1999 Location: Middle Georgia Posts: 10,553	"... Till then, my family will be protected by Smith & Wesson four nights per week; let the would-be attacker choose the night." JOHN MARTINEZ Newnan ***************** 'Sup wid dat? __________________ "The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion." - John Lawton, speaking to the American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995

October 21, 2002, 12:13 AM	#3
Art Eatman Staff Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX, USA Posts: 16,803	sensop, it's a variant of "This property protected by armed guard four nights a week. You guess which nights." Pore lil Cynthia-poo. She and Tom Teepen never have figured out the reality of the whole bit of self-defense, guns in general, or the rights of a sovereign individual... Nor a lot of other stuff, for that matter. Art __________________ "You're from BATFE? Hey, great! I use all your fine products!"

October 21, 2002, 10:49 AM	#4
Raistlin Member Join Date: August 11, 2001 Location: Madison, GA Posts: 51	Apparently, either all or the majority of responses were pro-gun; usually when the Urinal-Constipation prints reader responses, they try to run letters from both sides of the issue. Must not have been enough anti- letters to publish.... __________________ Gun Control: All the rounds in the X-ring.

October 21, 2002, 11:08 AM	#5
Bud Helms Staff Join Date: December 31, 1999 Location: Middle Georgia Posts: 10,553	Ah! Art, I get it! __________________ "The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion." - John Lawton, speaking to the American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995