Anyone else trying to figure out the logic in Michael Hurd’s letter to the editor? The governor proposes banning semi-automatic weapons and Mr. Hurd writes about the ominous changes that he guarantees will occur when “guns are outlawed.” The governor proposes banning the sale of large capacity magazine clips and Mr. Hurd fears the “violence that will grow” when the peaceful are disarmed. The governor proposes universal background checks and Mr. Hurd discusses why it is fruitless to make it more difficult for a criminal to buy a gun. I wonder if Mr. Hurd believes in eliminating all speed limits since those among us who choose to speed will do so anyway?
Mr. Hurd doesn’t seem to understand a simple rule of logic: All semi-automatics are guns but not all guns are semi-automatics. So by banning the sale of semi-automatics the governor is not proposing outlawing all guns.
Perhaps Mr. Hurd should think about the 15 seconds it took Jared Lee Loughner to fire a supersized Glock 19 handgun with a high-capacity magazine, and critically injure Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wound 12 others, and kill six bystanders. When he stopped to reload he was wrestled to the ground. We will never know if 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green would be alive today if Loughner had used a standard magazine.
So while Mr. Hurd goes on about the absurdity of gun regulations, those of us who choose to think logically will work to convince our lawmakers to ignore the lobbying of the NRA on behalf of gun manufacturers and demand reasonable laws that will help prevent gun violence.
No law is 100 percent effective, but that is never a reason not to have laws. We all know that a deranged person intent on shooting people will find a way. But we can enact laws that will prevent that person from killing as many people as possible. As President Obama said, “We won’t be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try. If even one child’s life can be saved, then we need to act.”
Joanne Cabry
Rehoboth Beach
