People need guns to protect themselves
Recently I read the op-ed by Ed Tinsley entitled “The NRA can’t keep me silent anymore.” Like him, my heart aches for the parents of the children murdered in Newtown, Conn. No parent should have to bury their child. But his proposals for a solution are ridiculous.
Where is the logic in saying we are going to punish the criminals by disarming the innocent and providing more victims? How many children have been murdered or orphaned by the guns allowed to cross the border to Mexico in the Obama administration’s failed “Fast and Furious” program? Where is Obama’s accountability? How many murders have there been in Chicago or New York in the past year in spite of the toughest gun restrictions in America? Now the New York Assembly has made gun ownership even more difficult for law-abiding citizens. It will have no effect on the criminals.
In his editorial, Mr. Tinsley explains how he allowed himself to be bullied by the NRA. Why? For no other reason than to be reelected. He obviously does not believe in the Second Amendment. He, like so many other liberals, is a chameleon, changing with whatever popular winds might be blowing in order to be elected, then reverting to their true colors once safely in office.
Mr. Tinsley touts his military service time, for which we thank him. He tells us that he was “trained to use a rifle not unlike that used in the in the Sandy Hook massacre. Military style firearms like these belong in combat, not in communities like Helena or Newtown.” I too was trained by the military to use an M16 fully automatic rifle. Cosmetically similar appearances do not make the AR15 the same as the M16.
For many a veteran that did not grow up around firearms, having a rifle that resembles the rifle they were trained with and carried in the service of our country might be reassuring.
Veterans returning home from World War II brought back tens of thousands of souvenirs, including captured enemy handguns, Walthers and Lugers, as well as long guns, Mausers. In addition, many a returning GI purchased and kept his personal weapon, M1 Garands, .30-caliber M1 carbines, even Thompson sub-machine guns were purchased from a grateful government that did not fear its citizens being armed.
The illusion of safety provided by a government-sponsored, armed security force protecting unarmed civilians was most effectively illustrated in the attack on our embassy and the murder of our ambassador at Benghazi. The paid security force either ran away or actively participated in the attack. The Obama camp ignored repeated requests for help. No help was sent, and the result was the slaughter of our people. Where is the Obama accountability?
No thank you, Mr. Tinsley. If someone wishes to attack me or my family, I will call for help, if there is time, but I am fully capable of defending my home, and I will not hesitate to do so.
Richard Funk lives in Kalispell.