Response to WUSA Gun Rally report

This is a response to the 9NewsNOW article titled "Gun Protesters take Aim at District Heights Gun Shop" by Audrey Barnes, 8/28/2007 at
http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=62239

So 400 guns used in Prince George's County crimes over the course of 10 years(!) originated at Realco. The buyers of these guns went through onerous, burdensome Brady checks at Realco--which have been proven to cost a lot for very little in return. They waste commercial, police, and citizen resources to provide a "feel good" service with few results and are mostly intimidating to innocent customers who simply wish to protect themselves or participate in recreational shooting sports.

We don't know how many of these guns were actually stolen or sold later by other individuals or shops that don't provide these checks, so we point to the original seller--that *did* perform the required checks so the guns could be traced back to them!

Government actions have led to the closure of 79% of gun dealers since 1994 so there are fewer places for law-abiding citizens to purchase these useful tools. No wonder the few remaining outlets are the source of all the guns in highly populated metropolitan areas!

As usual, we hear the minority--the traumatized families of those who were the targets of crime and the people who are riding the emotional and political appeal of feel-good legislation that infringes on constitutionally-guaranteed rights and does nothing to actually solve the real problems.

In fact, it only puts more innocent, law-abiding people at the effect of criminals. What if police and lawmakers worked with citizens instead of passing more laws that criminals will ignore that will only burden the law-abiding and limit their access to tools of self-defense?

Our Founding Fathers knew that the vast majority of citizens could be depended upon to help their neighbors and communities and trusted them to exercise their rights responsibly. They also knew that a very small percentage of sociopaths and lunatics would always be present in any society.

Let's try something completely different. Let's bring back school shooting sports, and actually make air-rifle a bona fide sport in PG County schools. Young people can build self-esteem, focus, discipline, and act in the manner that young people did for many generations with no crime problem--and possibly prepare for the Olympics!

Instead of turning guns into alluring forbidden fruit, let's encourage learning firearm safety and have recreation that may draw more kids off the street. And let's stop turning more of our law-abiding citizens into criminals with the stroke of a pen.