Folks:
You may not get the Pasco edition of the Tampa Tribune. Today there was
a letter from Arthur Hayhoe (I _love_ that name!) of the Florida
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. It implied that the NRA was nefariously
marketing Eddie Eagle and otherwise bashed the NRA. Likewise, he held
his own organization up as a bastion of truth and honesty. It was too
much for me, so I responded. Thought you might find it amusing.
======= begin letter =======
Dear Sirs:
With regard to Arthur Hayhoe's letter of 5 September, let me first say
that I do not speak for the NRA; I am only a member.
Mr. Hayhoe describes the NRA's position on the Second Amendment to the
Constitution as "fraudulent". Even a casual reading of
pre-Constitution history (and the language of the Constitution itself)
clearly demonstrates that the Framers specifically intended that
American citizens have an unfettered right to own firearms. Anyone
wishing to dispute this fact should read The Federalist Papers as a
start.
Mr. Hayhoe takes exception to the NRA's "gun marketing" in the guise
of the Eddie Eagle program. I'm not directly familiar with the
program, but I'll take Mr. Hayhoe's "facts" at face value. The NRA,
like any other organization (including the Florida Coalition to Stop
Gun Violence, henceforth FCSGV), markets itself and its agenda. The
purposes of the NRA are to 1) protect the rights of gun owners, and 2)
to promote the shooting sports. As a matter of marketing, would it be
wise to loudly exclaim to children that guns kill and maim people? Of
course not. But by the same token, does Mr. Hayhoe honestly imagine
that children are so dense that "don't touch, call an adult" doesn't
convey danger to them? It's marketing-- a way of saying something
(guns are dangerous) without showing lurid pictures of dead bodies. I
believe kids get it.
Now let's take a look at the marketing of FCSGV and other
anti-gun-violence groups. Most of their names and literature have this
"stop gun violence" tone to them. Sounds laudable. Who wouldn't want
to stop violence? Now, there are a lot of ways to go about stopping
gun violence. Almost all of the "gun violence" in this country is
committed by criminals. Yet criminals are legally barred from
purchasing, possessing or using firearms. It seems that a first step
toward curbing gun violence is to strengthen and enforce existing laws
which penalize the purchase, possession or use of firearms by
criminals. But I have yet to see any anti-gun-violence group that has
this as its first priority.
Instead, what we see from these groups is pushes to register guns and
license gun owners, that is, law abiding citizens. If a vanishingly
small percentage of the gun violence in this country is committed by
these people, why would you primarily target them in order to stop gun
violence? Why wouldn't you primarily pressure judges to throw the book
at criminals who use guns, have guns or try to buy guns?
Marketing! You see, organizations like FCSGV don't actually want to
stop gun violence. That's just marketing. Their true agenda is the
elimination of personal gun ownership (licensing and registration
always lead to eventual confiscation). With 80 million gun owners and
200 million guns in America, an awful lot of people wouldn't agree
with the elimination of their gun rights. But we all agree that
stopping gun violence is bad, right? Marketing.
The NRA markets gun rights, gun ownership, and (peaceful) use of
firearms. It's not the dirty secret Mr. Hayhoe makes it out to be. By
the same token, I think we should be aware of the real point of the
marketing of groups like FCSGV.
By the way, I have never seen anything issued by the NRA ever advocate
the use of firearms to settle disputes, exact revenge or affect
vigilantism. And the statistics prove that NRA members don't act that
way, either. So I don't really think bashing the NRA is going to do
much to "stop gun violence". Unless, perhaps, that's not what the
"stop gun violence" people are all about.
Paul M. Foster
New Port Richey
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