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THE COMMUNITY VOICE: Letters to the Editor

Puzzling – Isn’t It?

LetterWouldn’t it be nice to see the salaries of the local public employees published? How about the yearly pensions some will receive for the next forty years or so for not working? After all they do work or have worked for us yet we have no say at all to their earnings or benefits though we are technically their employers. On top of that the taxpayers foot the bill for any legal expenses they incur if they do their taxes improperly yet as their employers (technically) we cannot fire them. Puzzling, isn’t’ it?

Michael J. Rusznak

 

Guns Don’t Kill People, Words Kill People

Well, words don’t actually kill but they enable these idiots to kill. Every time there is a mass shooting, (which is happening way too often), there is an outcry for more and stricter gun laws, as if the lack of gun laws was the problem. If I am not mistaken, it is already against the law to murder someone, but that didn’t seem to stop the whackos that shot up the schools and theaters.

The NRA says that there are plenty of gun laws on the books, and that it’s the lack of enforcement that is the problem. Well, this is not quite accurate.

While it is true that there are more than enough laws pertaining to the purchase, use, and carrying of firearms, (every one of these mass shooters broke at least one of them including the one against murder mentioned above), gun laws are enforced every day. The police arrest people every day across the nation for illegal possession of a firearm or other firearm offenses.

No, It is words that are, in many cases, the instrument of death.

Two of the most lethal words are; PLEA and BARGAIN. When used together they are one of the deadliest word combinations.

Ten days after the Newtown shootings, on Christmas Eve, a 62 year old whack job in New YorkState, (a state with some of the strictest gun laws in the country), killed his sister, set their house on fire, and waited across the street, with his illegally obtained guns, for the fire department to show up. He then opened fire killing 2 and injuring 4 firemen.

Thirty one years before this same whack job beat his grandmother to death with a hammer.

As far as I’m concerned two words killed and injured those firemen, PLEA and BARGAIN! This guy was allowed to plea to manslaughter for a reduced sentence, allegedly because he wanted to spare his family the strain of a trial. You just bashed granny’s skull in and you’re worried about your family’s feelings, yea right.

Hello Mr. Prosecutor, Mr. Judge. What part of, “he beat grandma to death with a hammer” didn’t you get?  This guy should never have been allowed to plea and never seen the light of day again.

Just recently another police officer was buried, shot by another low life who’s been in the penal system since the age of fifteen. But he was “DIVERTED” to a drug rehab instead of being incarcerated. As I understand this, “JUDICIAL DIVERSION” thing, (a deadly word combination I was not familiar with till now), is supposed to be on a case by case evaluation.

In fact, this guy was up for “DIVERSION” once before. In that case the assistant district attorney came to court with four pages of transcripts documenting this guy’s record of armed robbery at the age of fifteen to drug dealing to murder. Diversion was denied.

The second time a different ADA showed up with less than a page of transcript and gave a half hearted argument. A different judge acknowledged that he knew of the previous offenses but let it slide and sent it to another judge for approval, which it was. And we know the rest of the story.

When interviewed after the shooting, the judge who released (“DIVERTED”) him expressed her sorrow at the murder of this police officer. Well she should be sorry because she killed him, just as sure as if she pulled the trigger herself.

No, we don’t need more gun laws; we need common sense to be injected into our judicial system.

It is already against the law to buy guns in one state and sell them in another if you are not a licensed gun dealer.

If a person is convicted of trafficking guns, it should be an automatic life without parole.

This brings us to yet more deadly words. I can hear the bleeding hearts whining now; Life without Parole? You can’t do that it would be CRUEL and UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!  NO, it would not be “CRUEL” or “UNUSUAL”, it would be effective. Boiling in oil, burning at the stake, drawing and quartering, that would be “CRUEL” and “UNUSUAL”.

It seems that every time one of these tragic incidents takes place the cry goes out for stricter gun laws. People don’t seem to understand, (or don’t want to), that laws have no effect on the lawless. Gun laws only target law abiding gun owners, just as locks only deter honest people. If a thief wants something bad enough no lock will stop him. Just as a person who wants to kill someone will do it whether or not there is a gun available.

There is a strong movement to abolish the Second Amendment all together. Well if you do that all the other amendments will disappear in short order, let there be no doubt about that.So if we are serious about reducing gun violence these are a few things that have to be done:

1. Take the laws that are broken and fix them. Put some teeth into the sentencing. Lawmakers should sit down and figure these things out. Burn the midnight oil and forget about whose ass you are going to kiss to get re-elected.

2. Stop releasing repeat violent offenders. How many times does a person have to be convicted of a crime before you realize he or she is just no good?

3. Stop vilifying the police. Give them back the tools they need to do their job. What we are doing to the police I can liken to buying a guard dog to protect your home and family then having his teeth pulled so he doesn’t hurt anybody. It was proven that stop and frisk was working and working well. Some will say that it is a violation of a persons 4th amendment rights. To them I would say; if this person wasn’t stopped by an officer who wanted too and then said person later shot your mother in a hold up would you say, “ that’s ok at least his rights weren’t violated”?

4.    Stop talking about the accessibility of guns. Guns were much more accessible when I was growing up than they are now. The difference is when I was growing up mass shootings were far and few between, (the only one I can think of is the Texas Tower in 1966), so what is actually happening? The way children are raised these days might be one reason. Discipline and nurturing being replaced by counseling and prescription drugs. I don’t know. But whatever it is that is making some people crazy, find out what it is and fix it. Stop blaming the guns.

Joe Bayona

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