Article mistaken about guns

Pat Hallahan

Breeze Reader's View

So Jason McIntyre, gun expert, thinks guns are bad and should be outlawed. What a great idea. Let's look at some places that already have outlawed guns. New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., shall I go on? The places with the strictest gun control laws are consistently the places with the highest crime rates, or so it seems. This occurrence is not a coincidence, but more of a downward spiral. People see crimes in the city being committed, so they say 'Let's put more restrictions on guns.' So, when the crime rate gets worse, they say, 'Well maybe we should just get rid of guns altogether.' That is not what is happening.

What those laws are doing is taking guns away from law abiding citizens and leaving criminals with the guns. Oh, you say that's not what happens. Well tell me what a criminal is; it's someone who breaks the law. So what makes you think he will get rid of his guns when they are made illegal?

The Littleton, Colo., incident a few months back is a perfect example of a killer's response to laws. People say there should be more laws made so that this will not happen again. The fact that approximately 21 different laws were broken in the Littleton incident shows that more laws wouldn't work anyway. It's not like what they did was legal and something should be done to make it illegal now. Guns are already illegal in schools, it already is illegal for them to have had possession of weapons and on and on.

The problem is the judicial system. There are little consequences now for your actions. A guy could kill somebody and, if he is convicted, could get out in a short amount of time, short being compared to what he should be getting. Whatever happened to "an eye for an eye," or "He did it! He's guilty and he'll pay for his crimes"? This is what Governor George W. Bush is thinking when he wants more stringent punishments on all crimes where arms are used or possessed. This is what you call the conservative solution to gun crime, as opposed to the liberal solution of making more laws until only criminals are left with guns. This is about getting the message to criminals that you're not just going to get a slap on the wrist anymore. It is not a Republican swaying to the other side of the gun control issue. It is a criminal control issue now.

They are acting on the old saying, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Now if you don't believe in that saying, I'm sorry I have to break it to you, but it is the truth. I've never seen a gun driving around in a car by itself, shooting up city streets. If a person wants to hurt somebody and they don't have a gun, they aren't just going to kiss and make up.

Bottom line, if people cannot control themselves, whether it is with a car, a knife or a gun, they should be punished accordingly.

The taming of criminals is up to the judicial system. But the training of you, the innocent bystander walking through the park after dark or walking back to your car at the other end of the parking lot, is up to one's self. That is where the concealed-carry laws come in.

People need to realize that there is a need for guns and that the police cannot be there for all violent confrontations. If they don't realize it now, when will they? Will everybody need to be jumped and hit with a lead pipe before they realize they can do something to protect themselves? The idea here is protection for one's self and his or her loved ones. The people you hear about who do the killings do not carry a weapon for this purpose, nor do they carry it legally. They carry it to cause violence.

A concealed carry permit will allow you to defend yourself against this. Like Mr. McIntyre, I too have friends with true stories. One in particular is named Dale. He is not from a bad neighborhood; there is just some scum that seeps in sometimes. He and his wife were taking a walk through their neighborhood late one night. On the way back to their house, they saw a car sitting at the corner, engine running, in the direction they needed to go. There were three youths in the car.

They were just sitting there looking at Dale and his wife. Dale's wife felt threatened and suggested they go around the block instead. But Dale with his pistol in his waistband decided not to be intimidated in his own neighborhood. So, as they got closer, Dale just put his hand on his pistol just in case he might need it. He didn't pull it out in any way, he just wanted to let them know he was protected. As soon as they were close enough on the sidewalk for them to notice, they finally pulled away.

Another incident with him happened again in his neighborhood. He had pulled up to a stoplight with his windows down and new stereo blaring. He noticed three hoodlums loafing on the passenger side sidewalk not too far away. One of them had a large stick in his hand and began walking toward him. Dale gripped his pistol across the passenger seat and held it down almost on the seat. When the guy got up to Dale's car close enough to look down at Dale's defense, he paused and just looked stunned. No words, just some looks for a couple of seconds and then the light turned green and Dale was off.

Defending yourself doesn't always mean getting in a shootout. It's not like the Old West around here, where everybody is toting their pistols around dueling each other. A study of the effect of concealed carry permits was done in Dade County, Fla. This is one of the highest crime rates in the state. The studies showed that crime did go down because of it.

I have been around guns all my life. Not to sound conceited, but I know more about guns than probably 99 percent of the population. If treated properly, they are as safe as a toothpick. I was taught at an early age that guns are not toys.

If I saw one, I didn't touch it, but I went and told my parents. My parents were very safe and come to think of it, I never did come across a gun lying around my house anyway. Mr. McIntyre should have known not to pick up his roommate's gun. That is how accidents happen.

My philosophy is that if you don't know what you are talking about, don't say anything, I never do. But Jason should have kept his mouth shut on this issue and stuck to sports.

As for the people who hunt who you call clowns, if it wasn't for those clowns, there would be more deer problems than there are now.

In Northern Virginia not too long ago, the deer problem was so bad, people were hired to hunt them to help control the population. And by the way I don't know anybody who hunts with a gat.

Pat Hallahan is a junior ISAT major.