Letters

Featured letter: Guns are not the problem

To the Editor:

To start off I grew up on Shelter Island. For the first 12 years of my life I enjoyed all the Island had to offer. I spent countless days in the woods around my father’s shop and in the water. I have an outline of the Island tattooed on my back. It will always be where

I call home and where I am from. It will always be where my heart is.

Now that I have suppressed any idea that I’m not “from around here,” I would like to say I am completely and utterly disgusted by the cartoon in the January 3 Reporter. For those who are not familiar, the picture is of a large man, armed to the teeth, with Wayne LaPierre in the background who has a rifle in one hand and another on the capital building. The man is then captioned as stating they should start arming various groups of people. But, the thought of gay marriage scares him.

What is wrong with you people? Is that how you see gun owners? As a bunch of gay-hating rednecks that carry around semi-automatic rifles all day? Why is it that our society paints gun owners as a bunch of death dealing merchants of carnage? Why do people see gun owners as those who instill fear into the rest of society? Isn’t the liberal logic to not be judgmental and give everyone a fair chance? Don’t we teach our kids to not judge a book by its cover?

It’s because of media like this that we as gun owners get a negative view from people on the fence about violence issues. Guns are not the problem. No gun in the history of our world has ever jumped up off a table and pulled its own trigger. There is always someone behind that weapon. And it’s because of media like this that there are inaccurate stereotypes. Isn’t that what liberals are trying to fight? Yet, here you are fueling the flames of prejudice and inequality.

Shame on you all. Shame on the artist. Shame on the people that think the cold-blooded murder of my two firefighter brothers in Webster, New York was a gun control issue. It wasn’t. It was an issue with our diseased judicial system that allowed a man who beat his grandmother to death with a hammer to draw another free breath. Shame on the ones that are uncomfortable with my

God-given right to protect myself and my family.

Too bad, so sad. Get over it.

If you think guns are bad, then don’t own a gun. But don’t tell me how, if, and when I can defend myself from the evil in this world.

Don’t judge my right to self preservation. Don’t tread on me.

CHRIS CLARK
Mooresville, North Carolina