Notes

Dear President Obama,

Merry Christmas, I hope you have a great holiday season!

We have to react with logic, science and common sense. Emotional, knee-jerk reactions are only harmful to our Nation.

I cannot help but notice that none of the suggested gun-law changes so far can in any way prevent the tragedy that happened in Connecticut. The firearms were stolen, and smaller magazines would have not been of any use since anyone can buy an infinite number of magazines, and changing magazines takes less than 2 seconds in most cases. Also, most of the suggested changes so far are useless in preventing tragedies such as the ones in Oregon, Wisconsin and Colorado.

Here are the issues/problems with the suggestions made so far:
1. Smaller magazines can still be purchased in large quantities, making their “small” size or caps meaningless – attempting to enforce this is a complete waste of taxpayer money
2. Crimes using guns are over reported – instances where guns (use or brandishing) were used to save life and/or prevent crime are mostly underreported
3. Banning assault rifles? What about all the ones already out there? Especially the ones in criminal hands – what would a ban do to such rifles?
4. Semi-automatic weapons: banning those is like banning automatic transmission cars – criminals have those regardless – why expose law-abiding citizens and make them defenseless? Anyone who has been trained on using a gun knows that it makes no sense to prohibit those in this day and age
5. Banning weapons in certain cities: carrying weapons makes sense only when traveling outside major towns, as law enforcement could take 30 minutes to several hours to respond to 911 calls, assuming you can dial 911 (no reception, no payphone, etc.) – but carrying in cities should be legal too, otherwise how would citizens stay legal as they stop in cities/towns to sleep, eat and/or shop?
6. During the race riots of the early 90s, the City of Los Angeles (for instance) was defenseless for days, and 911 calls for help were met with police response DAYS AFTER. What is the contingency plan the government has for citizens who are in distress should civil unrest become rampant again, especially if more gun control/restrictions are put in place?
7. The Second Amendment was not about the right to hunt (which existed from prehistoric times) nor to defend oneself only at home, but to also defend against government if it ever turned totalitarian – let’s not forget that – this might not apply today, but we have to respect the Constitution, or amend it

Here are some suggestions that I believe might help:
1. Increase penalties for those who do not properly secure their firearms, causing those to fall into the wrong hands
2. Improve background checks to catch the mentally challenged, criminal and irresponsible (why not check credit scores before selling a gun? The insurance industry has been using this as a sign of responsibility for a really long time)
3. Require background checks at gun shows and for private gun sales
4. Do not prohibit semi-automatic weapons – it only hurts the innocent and law abiding
5. Require continuous reporting and statistics on all instances where gun use saved someone’s life, health and/or property – make those public and easily accessible (e.g. online) – the Nation has the right to know these numbers
6. Hold Hollywood responsible for violent movies, and/or restrict those to adults above the age of 18 – in Europe, you can watch erotic movies at age 12, violent movies at age 18 – how is it the exact opposite in here? We are telling our children that love and making love is bad, shooting guns is cool?
7. Focus on education – educating people about guns in school/college can help prevent tragedies like this one

Some idiots end up committing atrocities, and the rest of us have to pay the price?

We can do better to protect our Nation, both against the loss of freedom as well as to keep us safe. Giving up too much freedom and rights for a little safety is stupid, and will lead to a lot of disgruntled voters.

We can do better, and I hope you will help us do better.

Thank you.