My reply to this dip wad......
Mr. Rouse,
Congratulations to you for your recent editorial dealing with gun control. In one of the most carefully constructed and concise articles that I've read recently, you've managed to cover nearly every lie, misrepresentation and fallacy from the anti-gun lobby's play book.
Your article is based on the typical hysterical rants that accompany nearly all discourses on what you and your ilk term "reasonable gun control". Cries of "it's for the children", "blood in the streets" and "protect our police officers" ring hollow to those law abiding citizens who use firearms for sport, recreation and self-protection when it becomes apparent that statists such as yourself will settle for nothing less than total disarmament of the citizenry of this country. That, sir, is wholly unreasonable.
Have you considered that the criminal activity endemic to Prince George's County is part and parcel of individuals who choose to commit those acts? They would be criminals regardless of the tools with which they choose to implement those crimes. By denying me and my family our constitutionally protected right to self-defense, you are yourself an accomplice to those criminals. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that police departments and their governing bodies have no legal responsibility to protect us. If this is indeed the case, then by what means are the law abiding citizens of this country expected to defend themselves?
Your naivete and lack of understanding of gun owners is further illustrated by trying to define gun owners as right wing Republicans and card-carrying members of the NRA. Nothing could be further from the truth, though it does provide a simplistic solution to your single dimensional view of this debate. The truth is that gun owners in this country run the gamut of political, cultural and racial description and can not be pigeon-holed for the benefit of advancing your agenda.
Rather than focusing your attention on the miniscule percentage of those who choose to commit crimes with firearms, I would encourage you to instead take a look at the 80 million citizens in this country in possession of approximately 250 million firearms who already own and use their firearms in a responsible manner.
Sincerely,
"Norton"