Editor’s note: This letter is in response to a letter published in the Daily Lobo on Aug. 13 from reader Oswin Lambert. In his letter, Lambert argued in favor of stricter gun-control laws.
Editor,
After reading “Shooting should be call to arms on gun control,” I could not help but respond. The writer must be hysterical, fearful and someone who actually believes that the police will protect him from this kind of violence.
As we can see from the tragedy he has cited, the police can only respond after an incident has started. This does nothing to keep the tragedy from getting started.
Secondly, this is the typical response we get whenever something like this happens. Let’s take away all gun owners’ rights because one person was irresponsible. This is akin to saying that we should outlaw all cell phones because some people break the law and use them while driving and risk killing other motorists.
When will people realize that we can’t legislate morality? It is not moral to prohibit everyone from owning or doing something because a few people can’t own or do it responsibly. There will always be criminals in the world; no law or moral position will ever change that.
Lambert is right about one thing: guns don’t kill people, people do. Aside from that, his examples are ridiculous. Lambert states that owning guns is a crime against humanity, as sick and twisted as owning child pornography. I suppose he would like our Armed Forces to go back to using pointed sticks or, even more likely, to just go to the enemy en masse with no guns, singing love songs.
Apparently he doesn’t realize that these men and women are risking their lives so he can stay home and express anti-American sentiments.
The right to bear arms is in the Constitution, Mr. Lambert! As for us gun owners wanting to purchase an Auschwitz gas chamber, where do these ridiculous ideas come from? I not only don’t want a gas chamber, I don’t want a pipe bomb, a flamethrower or a biological weapon. However, per the Constitution, I do want the right to legally hunt, and to protect myself from those few people who will always surface to be irresponsible, whether it be with a gun, a car or a child.
Lambert speaks of owning guns that can quickly murder dozens of people, but so can cars, planes, prescription drugs, etc. Lambert can live in his fantasy as long as he wants, or until someone who doesn’t share his convictions makes him a victim. Personally, I believe that the only defense we have against violent, evil people is good people who are more skilled at violence.
Larry H. Crum
UNM staff member
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