State of mind in my letter to the editor

Yesterday I quoted Mr. Fox. Since Kevin is busy I also sent Mr. Fox an email. He responded and invited me to send a letter to the editor where he works and where his opinion piece appeared.

I believe we need to go on the offensive in our battle for public opinion. Constant defense can only slow, or at best stop, the advancement of the gun control. I advocate a particular state of mind when participating in gun control debates and I’m seeing a number of other people pick up on that theme. I continue in that vein here:

I’m writing in regard to the editorial by Mike Fox on gun control that appeared on your pages today.

Mr. Fox should look at the data rather than relying on his emotions when advocating public policy. Despite decades of law and crime data and research examining that data from countries all over the world no one has been able to answer just one question of mine, “Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?”

One should look at the benefits of private firearm ownership and use as well as the hazards. Firearms are used far more often in the defense of innocent life than they are used to kill or injure innocent life. Mr. Fox does not appear to have taken that into account.

Crime rates do not decrease when the victims of crimes are prohibited access to the tools of their own defense. That should be “common-sense”. Apparently Mr. Fox wasn’t able to see things from that viewpoint.

I believe had he been advocating banning people of color from the restaurants he frequents, from using the same drinking fountains, or interracial marriage then his advocacy of public policy without exceedingly solid factual data he would not have been allowed to present his opinion on your pages. The same criteria should be used before you allow someone to advocate restricting the rights of millions of gun owners in this country. To do otherwise is for you to participate in their bigotry.

See also my blog posting: http://blog.joehuffman.org/2004/12/14/just-one-question/

I have asked for, but not yet received, his permission to post the email exchange I had with Mr. Fox. If I receive that permission I’ll post it as well.

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