City Weekly Letter

Yesterday Feb. 2, 2007) the City Weekly printed a letter I sent them which was in response to a liberal appeal the week before to lock up all gun owners & throw away the key. This evidently was because in his opinion gun owners & the NRA & its' toadies are what is wrong with America. he had even gone so far as to say that we murder, by gun, 20,000 per year in the US--in his words--more than ever died during the Crusades!
Well, not being one to allow lies & biggotted self righteous statements to continue to be observed as a truth that, in fact, they are not, here is my response:

Gun Owners Are More Upstanding
This is in response to Keith Baker and his angst-ridden diatribe concerning guns [“No Guns, Nobody Gets Shot,” Letters, Jan. 18, City Weekly].

In its wisdom, and in conjunction with evidence from 33-plus sister states who allow concealed-carry permits, Utah’s Legislature allows responsible citizens the ability to carry weapons for defense of self, family and others. All of the states that have allowed concealed-carry have had reductions in violent crime, specifically murder and violent assaults, since the laws concerning concealed-carry were loosened back in 1991. Unlike the threats espoused by individuals like Baker, that blood would flow rampantly in the streets, the opposite is the case.

If we look at England and Australia, which have virtually no guns in honest citizens’ hands, their respective violent-crime rates went up immediately nearly 300 percent for rapes, murders and assaults at gunpoint within the first two years after imposing their idiotic anti-self-defense legislation.

Baker’s advocacy that no guns means no one will be shot is purely false and is intended to frighten the dimwitted. As for his claims that all NRA members and gun owners ought to be locked up because at heart they are murderers shows he has no idea what type of people he is speaking about.

Concealed-weapons owners are more law-abiding than the average citizen. Believe me when I say they take their rights seriously. They consider your rights, too. These individuals not only must be good citizens, they must subject themselves to a class they must pay for, fingerprinting and scrutiny by the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and undergoing a FBI investigation before even being allowed to exercise this right. They do this of their own free will.
Robie Cagle
Murray

Here is my copy which I sent them, just so you can see what was or was not printed:

In response to Keith Baker (Jan. 18,2007) and his angst ridden diatribe
concerning guns:
In its wisdom, and in conjunction with evidence from 33+ sister states
who allow concealed carry, Utah's Legislature allows responsible
citizens the ability to carry weapons for defense of self, family and
others. All of the states which have allowed concealed carry have had
reductions in violent crime, specifically murder and violent assaults
since the laws concerning concealed carry were loosened back in 1991.
Unlike the threats by individuals, like Mr. Baker, that blood would
flow rampantly in the streets, the opposite is the case.
If we look at England and Australia who have virtually no guns in
honest citizens hands, their respective violent crime rates went up
immediately to nearly 300% for rapes & murders and assaults at gunpoint
within the first two years they instigated their idiotic anti-self
defense legislation's. A far cry from what has happened in Utah and
other states which allow concealed carry, where these same crimes are
down significantly since the inception of our law.
Your advocacy that no guns means no one will be shot is purely false,
and is intended to frighten the dim witted. And as for your claims
that all NRA members and gun owners ought to be locked up because at
heart they are murderers shows you have no idea what type of people you
are speaking about. Gun owners, more specifically concealed weapons
owners, are more law abiding than the average citizen. And believe me
when I say they take their rights seriously, they also consider your
rights too. These individuals not only must be good citizens, they
must subject themselves to a class they must pay for, fingerprinting
and scrutiny by the State Bureau of Criminal Identification and undergo
a FBI investigation before even being allowed to exercise this right.
They do this of their own free will.
Now on the other hand, your theory that no guns equals no shootings, I
am sure the late Mrs. Poaha, who was murdered just a couple of nights
ago by a knife wielding individual, would disagree with you. In fact I
am sure she would have been grateful for anyone to come to her aid
while she was screaming for help in her driveway as she was being
murdered. If a bullet had been used to stop her assailant she may
still be amongst us today. But you, Mr. Baker, would rather we all
acquiesce to being victims rather than being allowed to defend
ourselves, families or others. This is a God given right and I, for
one, am grateful to a legislature which was able to determine that more
concealed weapons would lead to less crime, which it has.
Robie Cagle

I was pleased that the City Weekly was good enough to at least post a rebuttal to the idiotic comments made the week before.
Hope you all enjoyed it!