One of the most ignorant...nay STUPID things I have read in a long time

This is a letter to the editor of The Smithfield Herald. This woman is just plain frickin' stupid. She has no concept of why we have weapons in this nation, what causes gun violence, and where people who perpetrate crime and violence get their guns. People who go to gun shows are law abiding citizens who have undergone background checks prior to purchase. The RIGHT to have guns is just that...a right. It is not some privilege endowed by the government to be taken back at will. She is also just plain wrong about polls showing that the majority of Americans wanting the curtailment of gun ownership. She is also just plain erroneous about the crime rates in other nations being so low as a result of gun control. I wish that people would actually do research prior to making such claims. The facts simply do not back up Dorothy Onisko's assertions or opinions.

For a full hour on the topic of gun control, visit my recent blogtalkradio show on gun control. I have a folder full of resources and can direct anyone to them online if desired.

Here is the letter.

From Our Readers: Are we ready now for gun control?

I was turning from Wilson’s Mills Road on to U.S. 70 Business when I almost stopped dead in my tracks. I had just heard of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech, and there, staring me in the face, was a huge sign, Gun & Knife Show at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. My heart, aching for the victims and their families, and then to read about a gun and knife show in Raleigh. I was devastated. Who wouldn’t want gun control after hearing of mass killings. Without the ready availability of guns, killings like the one at Virginia Tech would not have occurred.

Since then, I’ve been hearing pros and cons about guns. Many of my friends have guns. I even know of grandpas who give a gun to their newborn grandsons as their first birthday presents. They surely don’t expect their grandson to kill anyone with it.

The National Rifle Association found a smart approach to use: “The Constitution defends our right to carry a gun. Don’t let them take away our guns.” But it’s the semiautomatics that create the worst havoc. Some politicians use the excuse that they won’t get elected if they don’t support the NRA. Yet any number of polls indicate that the majority of Americans favor the curtailment of guns. Year after year, any criminal can purchase any type of gun he or she wishes. Many other countries already have gun control, and their crime rate is miniscule compared to ours.

I thought we were a government for the people. Oh? Need I mention that one of the biggest lobbies in Washington is the NRA?

What are we going to do about it?

DOROTHY ONISKO, Brogden Road, Smithfield

Here is my letter to the editor in response to Ms. Onisko. It will be interesting to see if it gets published.

April 24, 2007

Editor
The Smithfield Herald
Fax 919-989-7093

Dear Sir:

I just read the letter to the editor from a Ms. Dorothy Onisko of Brogden Road. She wrote how she was stopped in her tracks at the sight of a billboard for an upcoming gun show following the Virginia Tech shootings. I was just as stunned at the sheer ignorance I saw upon reading her letter.

Ms. Onisko is sorely misinformed about the availability of guns, the effects of gun control on crime rates in other nations, and the acquisition and availability of guns to the criminal element of society.

Honest, law abiding citizens are subjected to serious scrutiny in the form of background checks, permitting procedures, and purchase limitations. These checks and limitations apply to gun shows as much as they do to gun stores.

Criminals by nature and definition, do not adhere to laws. No gun control law would have prevented some psychotic, deranged individual from shooting a lot of people on the Virginia Tech campus if an individual was determined to do so. What gun control did do was prevent other students and faculty members from being able to protect themselves and others. It was gun control that led to such a massacre, not the lack thereof.

I have personally done research on this very topic just within the last week. I have a folder full of resources that I will be happy to share. I will also be glad to give a free audio CD to anyone who wants one on the topic of gun control with actual facts, not just opinions. I can be reached at 919-975-2210 or through my web site, troylaplante.com.

Please, if someone is going to make assertions or form opinions, please do so according to the facts and not some emotional response to a tragedy. The facts simply do not back up Ms. Onisko's point of view or her claims of the efficacy of gun control. I would ask her and all readers to find out the simple facts before spouting factually challenged rhetoric.

Troy LaPlante
West Anderson Street
Selma, NC