From the Daily Herald letters: Leftists distort facts about guns
If you dress a pig to resembles a turkey, what do you have? You still have a pig. If you fancy up a legal semiautomatic weapon to look like an assault weapon, what do you have? You still have a legal semiautomatic weapon - fully automatic weapons have been outlawed since the 1930s.
The Jan. 29 letter from Kathy Schleicher is typical of the propaganda spewed by the left. This writer refers to "military-style assault weapons." The term "military-style" refers to the appearance of the weapon, and not to its firepower. A BB gun can be altered in appearance to look like an assault weapon, but it is still a BB gun.
Opinion letters and published articles from the leftist media do all they can to confuse the issue. They constantly refer to "military-style" to distort facts and rile readers into thinking we have "military weapons" on the street. There may be some, but the number is small. This assault on legal guns is only to sway public opinion against gun ownership. The right to own a firearm is as old as our Constitution.
If we, as a state, are sincere about gun crime, then we should become the 39th state to permit qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states that do allow the carrying of concealed weapons, gun crimes have gone down. The reason: Who wants to assault a citizen when he might be armed? Who wants to burglarize a home when there is a high expectation that the occupants may be armed?
Recently, England and Australia have taken away guns, so now only bad people have guns. The gun crime rate has soared in both countries. In our country, outlawing gun possession by citizens would still leave millions of guns in the hands of the criminal element. Now, everybody is disarmed, except those who want to do harm, and the rest of us would stand little chance of effectively defending ourselves.
Actions have consequences. I suggest the leftists in our country carefully consider their distortion of truth.
Guy B. Countryman
Palatine
