To the Editor:
A recent letter in the West Milford Messenger asked "why America is so reluctant to ban automatic weapons?"
Actually, it is very difficult for a private citizen to acquire a fully automatic weapon ( machine gun).
I think the writer meant to say a semi-automatic weapon , which requires a pull of the trigger each time to get a shot off.
She claims not to be a leftist liberal and that she also respects the second amendment.
I'll take her at her word, which substantiates something we Libertarians have long known, namely that so-called conservatives are just as hostile towards the Bill of Rights and individual liberty as those on the liberal left are.
People who say they support the second amendment, but also want "sensible gun control laws," are akin to people claiming to be for the first amendment as long as the views being expressed coincide with theirs.
The worst mass killings in history have been carried out by governments, not deranged lunatics, this was true even before guns were invented.
Where do you think the phrase " being put to the sword" had it's origins?
Guns actually save lives, and an armed person will, in most cases, not be a victim of a criminal, or more importantly, of a criminal government.
Perhaps some examples are in order.
Fifty-five years ago, three Civil Rights workers were murdered by the Klan and the Neshoba County Mississippi Sheriffs Department.
Had they been armed, they might be alive today.
Fast forward to 1998, and a young gay man named Matthew Shepard was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyoming.
Had he been armed, I suspect things would have ended quite differently.
You can't be for tolerance and diversity and support gun control.
It is one of the most racist and repressive ideas ever conceived of.
Once again, it shows the wisdom of the old saying "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."
Mark Richards,
West Milford