Letter to the Editor: Avoiding ignorance
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Nothing bothers me as much as those who are willfully ignorant. With the recent school shootings again, the rhetoric is being ramped up once more. School shootings are terrible, but the gun is not the problem.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ignorance as "lacking knowledge of the thing specified." I see articles about "assault weapons" written by journalists and politicians, who choose to be ignorant. They deliberately refuse to educate themselves about guns and the difference between semi-automatic and automatic. It is not difficult to understand.
According to 2021 FBI crime statistics, the following is really enlightening about crime, specifically crimes of murder:
* Almost 13 times as many murders were committed with a handgun than a rifle of any kind.
* More murders were committed using "personal weapons" (i.e. hands, fists, feet, etc.) than rifles of any kind.
* More than twice as many murders were committed with knives than rifles of any kind.
So, based on the statistics listed above, we should ban handguns, personal weapons, and knives. Once again, the emphasis by society is on the implement used and not the person. It is the PERSON who does the crime, not the thing. Handguns and knives are inanimate and do nothing by themselves. As for personal weapons, I am not sure, short of mass amputation, how to solve the problem of "personal weapons" being used in murders. In other words, someone beating another to death, kicking, etc.
Is it not strange that with gun violence, it is ALWAYS the IMPLEMENT used that is at fault, but with drunk driving it is ALWAYS the PERSON rather than the car? To apply the same logic that society does regarding whom/what to blame, drunk driving should be the fault of the car, not the person. Therefore, the obvious solution is to remove cars from society and name Henry Ford, may he rest in peace, as Public Enemy #1.
The ongoing debate about "assault weapons" is just ludicrous on its face. AR type weapons are just that-AR Type. They are not fully automatic and are black, which therefore makes them evil. They only fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. The U.S. Army has never used an AR-15. It would be suicidal for a soldier to have one.
Morality cannot be legislated. The world needs Jesus Christ. Accept him today.
Robert Sadler
Marietta