Editor's Note: This letter was originally published in the Middletown Insider in response to Mayor Dan Drew's statements on Middletown Patch, Mayor Drew: It's Time for Ban on High-Capacity Rifles, about gun control after the Newtown Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
To the Editor:
This reply is written in response to Mayor Drew's position points in supporting a ban on semiautomatic weapons as a deterrent to future heinous crimes.
I applaud his interest in joining other mayors nationally. I believe the argument is best supported by using a multi-pronged approach, not just weapons restrictions.
I am referring to the lack of institutions to care for the mentally disturbed, as well as a revision of senseless, violent video and computer games coming from Hollywood, etc.
This country has many gun restriction laws on the books, as evidenced by assault weapons legislation written by Vice President Biden that has gone unenforced as of 2004!
As to Newtown, in my opinion, what averted further bloodshed was the fact that armed law enforcement was closing in on Adam [Lanza] and that is when he took his own life, because they were armed!
The NRA can easily make the case for semiautomatic weapons as being mandatory for small business owners in high crime areas.
A comprehensive corrective plan of action has to include:
- Better enforcement of existing gun laws
- Mental institutions have to be allowed to keep violent offenders, as well as those who "threaten society" longer than a three-week observation period!!
- Impose controls over violent video games, etc., and not only by adopting ratings
Please do not fall into the trap of more gun control laws that cannot be enforced.
Paul Dodge, Middletown