Jumping in with both feet
I just placed an order at Amazon.com: 25 Terry Pratchett books, all mass market paperback editions. With two-day shipping, the total comes to $232. That should keep me in reading for a while yet.
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hopeful
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July 6th, 2003
Mistruths about concealed carry
In reply to the next-to-last letter in Monday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune, I sent in the following:
The July 7 letter from the vice president of the Twin Cities Million Mom March complains about distortions of the facts, yet commits its own distortions on the way to the conclusion its antigun backers would like Minnesotans to believe.
She first says that gun deaths are higher per capita in states with "lax" gun laws. I object to the concept of "gun death" - it's a death where a gun is involved, and the gun is not the reason the person is dead. Further, she presents so little supporting data for her contention that it's impossible to evaluate.
Her next point is that concealed carry permit holders commit crimes. Her support for this argument is citing 5314 arrests in Texas in nearly six years, for crimes "including" murder and sexual assault. What she doesn't do is compare this rate of arrest to the rate of arrest of the general population. Since this rate is much lower than that of the general population, it's easy to understand why. She also doesn't say how many of those 5314 arrests are for serious crimes and how many are for minor, nonviolent offenses including technical violations of the carry law. Without that information, her comment is merely a smear tactic, impossible to fully evaluate.
As for problems with permit holders not coming to light, I believe she's just plain wrong. The Star-Tribune will, I'm sure, gleefully print every story it can that puts permit holders in a negative light, and the same can be said for the majority of media outlets in Minnesota.
Why did supporters fight for seven years to pass it? Because it's the right thing to do, and because organizations like the Million Mom March, backed by big liberal money, have been fighting with every dirty trick in the book to stop law-abiding Americans from exercising what the Supreme Court has ruled is a basic, individual, Constitutional right.
I doubt they'll print it, but you never know.
The July 7 letter from the vice president of the Twin Cities Million Mom March complains about distortions of the facts, yet commits its own distortions on the way to the conclusion its antigun backers would like Minnesotans to believe.
She first says that gun deaths are higher per capita in states with "lax" gun laws. I object to the concept of "gun death" - it's a death where a gun is involved, and the gun is not the reason the person is dead. Further, she presents so little supporting data for her contention that it's impossible to evaluate.
Her next point is that concealed carry permit holders commit crimes. Her support for this argument is citing 5314 arrests in Texas in nearly six years, for crimes "including" murder and sexual assault. What she doesn't do is compare this rate of arrest to the rate of arrest of the general population. Since this rate is much lower than that of the general population, it's easy to understand why. She also doesn't say how many of those 5314 arrests are for serious crimes and how many are for minor, nonviolent offenses including technical violations of the carry law. Without that information, her comment is merely a smear tactic, impossible to fully evaluate.
As for problems with permit holders not coming to light, I believe she's just plain wrong. The Star-Tribune will, I'm sure, gleefully print every story it can that puts permit holders in a negative light, and the same can be said for the majority of media outlets in Minnesota.
Why did supporters fight for seven years to pass it? Because it's the right thing to do, and because organizations like the Million Mom March, backed by big liberal money, have been fighting with every dirty trick in the book to stop law-abiding Americans from exercising what the Supreme Court has ruled is a basic, individual, Constitutional right.
I doubt they'll print it, but you never know.
