Outlaw guns? Why not cars too?

Outlaw guns? Why not cars too?

I am not surprised to see smoke billowing from the stacks of the Gun Control Crazy Train in the wake of the terrible tragedy in Tucson. It leads me to ask a few questions of those who think that enacting more and more gun laws will help.

Thousands of people are killed every year by drunken drivers. Undeniable. Should we ban the car?

Obesity/diabetes are among the top killers annually of people in the U.S.A. Absolutely. Should we ban the fork and spoon?

Some make the statement, “The truth is, people use guns to kill people.” True. But what about the people that were killed by other people using means other than guns, like baseball bats, knives, arsons, poisons, etc.? Should we ban baseball? Should we ban knives?

The common denominator is the small-minded human and his penchant for over-reaction. Control yourselves, people.

Andrew A. Ruetz, Austintown

When deranged people buy guns...

How much influence, if any, our current state of vitriolic political commentary had on the shooter in Tucson is something that will probably never be known. The salient fact regarding this horrific incident is that a mentally deranged person could walk into a gun store and with the tacit permission of all of us, legally purchase a weapon configured in such a way that its only purpose is to kill as many people as quickly as possible. How can a supposedly civilized society permit this? Have we gone completely mad?

To believe that our Founding Fathers’ intent when writing the Second Amendment to our Constitution was to guarantee Jared Lee Loughner, in his pathetically deranged state, the right to purchase a frighteningly efficient killing tool makes a mockery of common sense. Does our literal interpretation of the Second Amendment also require that we allow any individual with enough money, regardless of their emotional or psychological state, to purchase a .50-caliber machine gun? Rocket-propelled grenade launcher? Apache attack helicopter? Where do we draw the line? Let us not forget that at the time the Second Amendment was written, the most advanced firearm was a single-shot muzzle-loader, hardly an efficient weapon for use by a deranged mass-murderer.

While the right to own guns for sport or protection must be upheld, time after time we are presented with indisputable evidence that there are a significant number of people who should never, under any circumstances, be allowed to purchase any firearm, let alone a sophisticated weapon of the type Loughner used. It’s time we make known to our elected officials that we will no longer tolerate their pandering to the gun lobby and demand that reasonable restrictions be placed on the purchase of firearms. Criminal investigations, psychological evaluations and a minimal amount of training must become prerequisites for the purchase of a gun.

If we make no effort to stop this madness, we must bear some responsibility when, not if, the next shooting occurs.

Robert F. Mollic, Liberty

The illogical defies explanation

Again, in the aftermath of a national tragedy, the vultures and pond scum of our society jump in to assign blame where they feel they would like it to go. And again, we are subjected to a war of words and worse. Then we move to the gun ownership issue, and find that this tragedy provides a previously unavailable inroad to promoting a certain agenda. But this is just plain wrong.

In many years in the health-care profession, I learned long ago, as have many of us, that is it futile to assign logic to illogical events. It is impossible to discuss issues with the insane in a sane manner. Yet the politicians and pundits would have us believe the “evil right wing” political machine and its tools, talk radio and Fox News, are to blame for what took place in Arizona. Lies and more lies.

Who was to blame for the Kennedy assassination? Rush Limbaugh was in the 7th grade and hardly an influence. And how about Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.? Who stirred up the emotions in the persons found to be their killers? Was it Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin or some other right wing nut job that caused two attempts on the life of President Ford and the nearly successful murder of Ronald Reagan?

What we learned in Tucson is what has always been the case: a madman or woman cannot be stopped if they have a mind to act on their delusions. But the real issues is the need to dirty up talk radio and the right wing leaders found there. This is a chance to indict, again, politicians who speak out against the current administration. Those who are doing this are the real criminals and the lowest of the low. They are using the agony of those killed or maimed and their families to advance their cause.

We, as the American public, know the truth and will punish these vermin at the ballot box and by tuning them out of our lives for good.

M. Ben Melnykovich, Lake Milton