on_the_rox
Ultimate Member
I would like to submit the follow in response to an editorial printed by the editor of the Sun today. Please review it and let me know if I am on the right track and if it needs help. Thanks.
Marylander’s deserve much more than a vote.
I would like to respond to the February 17th Our View: President Obama’s State of the Union plea for Congress to act on gun control strikes a chord with most Americans editorial in the Baltimore Sun. The opinion focused on supporting President Obama’s assertion during his state of the union address that the recent victims of violence in Arizona, Connecticut, and Chicago needed to have their vote heard. The opinion also went on to denounce the NRA, republicans, and certain democrats for opposing portions of Obama’s recently proposed legislation looking to ban many semi-automatic firearms and certain magazines. The opinion ends with the following, “On this devisive issue, all of us deserve a vote.”
I believe the recent tragedies have struck a chord with most Americans. I believe most Americans would like to see Congress and their local state governments enact some common sense legislation that would make real differences in keeping American families safer. It seems that there has been a jump on a national and state level to legislate gun control. This same reaction was carried out with the result being the now expired Federal Assault Weapons ban of 1994. Studies were conducted about the weapons ban and it's effectivness, but the reality was it had no real effect on the majority of violent crime as criminals do not typically use the firearms that were banned to commit crimes. In fact the majority of criminals prefer easily concealable pistols, many of which are stolen. Focusing on firearms instead of the real solutions allows criminals to continue to ply their trade. Most Americans realize it is futile to go down this same road again, especially when there are better solutions out there.
The majority of Americans are smart enough to realize where the problems lie. Although it gets reported that the NRA, republicans, and some democrats that are intimidated by the NRA are the ones pushing opposition to this proposed legislation, the reality is the majority of Americans do not want to see limitations on law abiding firearms owners but would like to see real solutions. These same Americans are not having their “votes” heard either because they are being drowned out by the liberal based media which chooses to use its voice to skew what is reported and how events are portrayed.
Conversely, In a recent independent poll in Maryland the people have spoken and should be heard. This independent poll ( http://www.marylandshallissue.org/share/Toplines-Maryland Statewide-Feb2013.pdf) was conducted statewide and queried a diverse cross-section of likely registered voters. Although most of those polled were democrats (53%), did not own/have guns in the home (59%), and were from the metropolitan regions of the state (73%), the majority seemed to come to the same conclusions regarding solutions to the violence in Maryland. Nearly all (96%) felt they have a right to protect themselves and their families from a criminal act, with an overwhelming majority (83%) believing it ok to use a firearm to accomplish this. The majority (50% to 39%) do not believe the government should limit the firearms available for self-defense should be limited to those used for hunting. These responses completely coincide with the facts reported by the FBI regarding crime statistics (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20) which showed that the weapons most politicians are wanting to ban are not causing the majority of Maryland’s or America’s crime.
With regards to what should be done the poll was clear. In a response asking about solutions to preventing mass murders, a small fraction (20%) favored banning semi-automatic weapons while a majority (62%) thought that strengthening mental health records with regards to obtaining firearms would be more effective. Strengthening mental health reporting could be accomplished by several proposed bills in Maryland’s legislature including HB0810 which would require better communication on mental health concerns. A majority (55% to 37%) favored placing armed resource officers in schools to protect our children. Coincidently there is a bill before the Maryland state Senate (SB0807) that would do just that, yet most politicians are not focused on that. Further respondents overwhelmingly agree (88%) that repeat violent offenders that use firearms in commission of a crime should in fact be required to serve their entire sentences. In my opinion this solution of focusing on keeping repeat offenders off the street would be the biggest solution to actually reducing the occurences of violent crimes. Again there are several bills pending that could address this particular issue including SB0786.
So I say the majority of Marylanders and Americans are very smart. They can see through all the politics and can see where the real changes need to happen. Marylanders have responded and have shown that they believe in concrete solutions to the states problems, not in politician’s desires to limit law abiding citizens while side stepping the real problems (criminals, no current protection for school children, and reporting issues regarding mental health). So yes, in the end I have to agree with one part of the original opinion. Marylanders do deserve to be heard, and their views do deserve to be represented by their elected politicians. So in the end we ALL deserve our vote to be heard!
Marylander’s deserve much more than a vote.
I would like to respond to the February 17th Our View: President Obama’s State of the Union plea for Congress to act on gun control strikes a chord with most Americans editorial in the Baltimore Sun. The opinion focused on supporting President Obama’s assertion during his state of the union address that the recent victims of violence in Arizona, Connecticut, and Chicago needed to have their vote heard. The opinion also went on to denounce the NRA, republicans, and certain democrats for opposing portions of Obama’s recently proposed legislation looking to ban many semi-automatic firearms and certain magazines. The opinion ends with the following, “On this devisive issue, all of us deserve a vote.”
I believe the recent tragedies have struck a chord with most Americans. I believe most Americans would like to see Congress and their local state governments enact some common sense legislation that would make real differences in keeping American families safer. It seems that there has been a jump on a national and state level to legislate gun control. This same reaction was carried out with the result being the now expired Federal Assault Weapons ban of 1994. Studies were conducted about the weapons ban and it's effectivness, but the reality was it had no real effect on the majority of violent crime as criminals do not typically use the firearms that were banned to commit crimes. In fact the majority of criminals prefer easily concealable pistols, many of which are stolen. Focusing on firearms instead of the real solutions allows criminals to continue to ply their trade. Most Americans realize it is futile to go down this same road again, especially when there are better solutions out there.
The majority of Americans are smart enough to realize where the problems lie. Although it gets reported that the NRA, republicans, and some democrats that are intimidated by the NRA are the ones pushing opposition to this proposed legislation, the reality is the majority of Americans do not want to see limitations on law abiding firearms owners but would like to see real solutions. These same Americans are not having their “votes” heard either because they are being drowned out by the liberal based media which chooses to use its voice to skew what is reported and how events are portrayed.
Conversely, In a recent independent poll in Maryland the people have spoken and should be heard. This independent poll ( http://www.marylandshallissue.org/share/Toplines-Maryland Statewide-Feb2013.pdf) was conducted statewide and queried a diverse cross-section of likely registered voters. Although most of those polled were democrats (53%), did not own/have guns in the home (59%), and were from the metropolitan regions of the state (73%), the majority seemed to come to the same conclusions regarding solutions to the violence in Maryland. Nearly all (96%) felt they have a right to protect themselves and their families from a criminal act, with an overwhelming majority (83%) believing it ok to use a firearm to accomplish this. The majority (50% to 39%) do not believe the government should limit the firearms available for self-defense should be limited to those used for hunting. These responses completely coincide with the facts reported by the FBI regarding crime statistics (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20) which showed that the weapons most politicians are wanting to ban are not causing the majority of Maryland’s or America’s crime.
With regards to what should be done the poll was clear. In a response asking about solutions to preventing mass murders, a small fraction (20%) favored banning semi-automatic weapons while a majority (62%) thought that strengthening mental health records with regards to obtaining firearms would be more effective. Strengthening mental health reporting could be accomplished by several proposed bills in Maryland’s legislature including HB0810 which would require better communication on mental health concerns. A majority (55% to 37%) favored placing armed resource officers in schools to protect our children. Coincidently there is a bill before the Maryland state Senate (SB0807) that would do just that, yet most politicians are not focused on that. Further respondents overwhelmingly agree (88%) that repeat violent offenders that use firearms in commission of a crime should in fact be required to serve their entire sentences. In my opinion this solution of focusing on keeping repeat offenders off the street would be the biggest solution to actually reducing the occurences of violent crimes. Again there are several bills pending that could address this particular issue including SB0786.
So I say the majority of Marylanders and Americans are very smart. They can see through all the politics and can see where the real changes need to happen. Marylanders have responded and have shown that they believe in concrete solutions to the states problems, not in politician’s desires to limit law abiding citizens while side stepping the real problems (criminals, no current protection for school children, and reporting issues regarding mental health). So yes, in the end I have to agree with one part of the original opinion. Marylanders do deserve to be heard, and their views do deserve to be represented by their elected politicians. So in the end we ALL deserve our vote to be heard!
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