Replies to Feedback

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Category: 2nd Amendment
Comments:
Please be advised that my name is [removed for privacy reasons] and I am the founder and chairman of the African-American Policy Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding an infrastructure for African-Americans such that we may lessen our dependence on federal programs.

I want to extend greetings to Mr. Heston whom I had the pleasure of meeting along with his mother when he was filming a movie called "Chiefs" in Chester, South Carolina in the 1980's. At that time I was a state legislator and I went on to become a state circuit judge.

As you might imagine, I am an African-American and I want to commend all of you for your fight against gun control. As a lawyer, former legislator and trial judge, I am convinced that there is a move afoot to disarm american citizens. Notwithstanding all the talk about certain types of weapons, the federal government will stop at nothing in order to further it's evergrowing police state powers. Due to governmental activities, I no longer have a right to carry a weapon and given the high number of physical assaults, strong-arm robberies and the like, it is an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

So often, the proponents of so-called gun control will use African-American statistics as evidence of the need for this ever incroaching legislation. However, I need you to know that all Blacks do not favor these proposed laws and in fact, are generally, adamantly opposed. Particularly, in that, we are most often the ones under siege in our own neighborhoods by our own children and no amount of gun control laws will ever replace responsible parenting on our parts.

I appreciate your consideration and urge you to contact me if I can be of help in your efforts. I strongly believe that Black america needs to be heard on this issue.

I would appreciate your extending my regards to Mr. Heston, I have always appreciated his efforts, both as an actor and as an activist for certain causes.

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My Reply:

Thank you for your support and perspective. We believe that the right to keep and bear arms extends to all Americans. So often in the past we have found that gun control laws impact only the law-abiding citizen and not the criminal element.

The best support you can provide is to encourage everyone to vote as well as contact their elected and appointed representatives and let their opinions be known. For those that wish to send a special message supporting their 2nd Amendment right there are resources available from the 2nd Amendment Right Muster & Education Day (2ARMED) http://www.usa2076.com/2armed site, as well as other sites.

Although ProGuns and 2ARMED are not endorsed by, nor affiliated with, the National Rifle Association (NRA), your regards have been forwarded to them for delivery to Mr. Heston.

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Category: Web site
Comments:
In your argument on "accidental" deaths by guns as compared to "accidental" deaths by the medical community you neglected to mention "deliberate " deaths by guns. I suppose you just forgot that one. If the comparison was made of deliberate deaths guns would come up on the short end. But of course you wouldn't mention that statistic, then your prior argument would look weak, self serving and shallow.

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My Reply:

Thank you for taking the time to express your views. I would like to clarify that what you are taking exception to isn't "my argument" - it's a reprint from a newspaper. However, to address your comments:

Your Statement: "In your argument on "accidental" deaths by guns as compared to "accidental" deaths by the medical community you neglected to mention "deliberate " deaths by guns. I suppose you just forgot that one..."

My Response: Actually I didn't forget that one. I was comparing 'apples-to-apples' (medical accidents to gun accidents) not 'apples-to-all fruit' (medical accidents to all gun deaths).

Your Statement: "...If the comparison was made of deliberate deaths guns would come up on the short end. But of course you wouldn't mention that statistic, then your prior argument would look weak, self serving and shallow."

My Response: Using the same statistics for accidental deaths by physcians and doing a comparison to all murders with a firearm leaves a person about 1,500 times more likely to die from a medical mistake: 

Overall, 9,143 people were murdered by firearms in 1998 (source: FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1998)
Overall, 120,000 people died from medical errors (source: Benton County(AK) News
Tribune, 17 Nov 1999)

Number of physicians in the U.S...........................700,000

Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year...........120,000

Accidental deaths per physician.............................0.171

Number of gun owners in the U.S........................80,000,000

Number of firearm murders (all age groups) .................9,143

Murders per gun owner...................................0.0001143

Therefore, doctors are approximately 1,500 times more dangerous than murderers.

Also see: Inept Doctors, 29 May 2001

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Category: Web site
Comments:
How can we know if factoids are true or not? Your site talks about Hillary and the Black Panthers while another site is saying it isn't true.

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My Reply:

Good question!

While I was not personally there to observe this, my source for this information is:

David Horowitz(editor-in-chief of FrontPageMagazine.com and president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture) http://www.frontpagemag.com/inyourface/2000/iyf01-31-00.htm
from his book: Radical Son, by David Horowitz

And the books reviews are:

"David Horowitz's memoir of the '60s, Radical Son, tells many truths we do not wish to believe. It is a searing book, an unflinching book and deeply honest. A reader may not come to Horowitz's conclusions about politics present. But about politics past he is undeniable." —Martin Peretz, Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic

"Horowitz is a superb writer. James Atlas was not wrong when he characterized Radical Son as a work of literature, for that is precisely what one feels in the shape and ring of its paragraphs. Horowitz's painful narrative is more honest and to my mind, more important than other memoirs of those times. Ultimately, Radical Son is about uneasy reconciliation with a radical father as well as with oneself. In this case, however, it comes wrapped in the folds of an extraordinary memoir."
—Sanford Pinsker, Partisan Review

Since his is a 'first-hand' account, and I haven't seen any rebuttals that prove he lied, then I am led to believe he is telling the truth.

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Category: 2nd Amendment
Comments:
I was raised around hunting rifles and shotguns in western Nebraska and have eaten many a delicious meal of duck, pheasant and venison. Nevertheless, I cannot see this as a reason for defending handguns, automatic rifles and on up to atomic weapons in the general citizenry. When the Constitution was written, the government and the citizens had access to the same types of weapons, more or less. That is not the case now, and we must defend ourselves by means which do not slaughter our children. Why is it that the U.S. has the most guns in the hands of its citizens and an astronomically higher murder rate than any other industrialized country? There must be a better answer than everyone packing a pistol. Betty

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My Reply:

Good question Betty!

2nd Amendment supporters do not question the type nor size (caliber) of weapons that can be legally owned. Many caliber's today are available in handgun and long gun, in single-shot, semi-automatic, or automatic.  To ban one type or size firearm has implications on others. So, let's not ban the tool - let's prosecute the wielder. The gun does not kill by itself. It's like a DWI charge - the offender isn't told to go ahead and drive a sub-compact but stay away from the full sized vehicle that was used to run over a group of school children, or only operate a diesel not gasoline powered car. They are criminals and must suffer the punishment for their crime. Same holds true for a robber, murderer, terrorist, etc. There are currently laws against what you describe. Who do you think are breaking these laws? It's probably not the hunter with a .50 caliber black powder rifle. It's not the sportsman in the automatic firearms club. It's not the off-duty police officer going to dinner with his family. Another thing to consider, guns will become like drugs in that if you ban them they will be imported illegally. There are many countries besides the United States that manufacture and export arms. The children used in the majority of the statistics are made up primarily of gang members defending their territory (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports and Murder Analysis by the Chicago Police Department). Take a look at the international news. Does calling it a war or revolution make the slaughter of citizens any less tragic? No - and there are innocent people out there dying daily.