Letters Recieved by Gun News Digest
Sees Issue Parallels
In Other Magazines
To the Editor:
We gun rights supporters are not the only ones who have trouble
dealing with the deceptions of our opponents.
Quoted in The Washington Post, National Weekly Edition of Jan. 22-28,
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications
at the University of Pennsylvania, opined, "It is dangerous for
political ads to lie outright. But an ad that takes something out of
context is much harder for the opponent to deal with, and much harder
for the press to deal with. You have to go through a fairly complex
discussion of why it distorts, and it doesn't get into play. Political
consultants have found this is the deceptive mode of choice."
Gee, and here I thought it was just bias. But an expert on the matter
says the press just can't handle complexity. Or is it because they
think their readers are just too dumb?
In the Jan./Feb. issue of The Defender, published by the Individual
Rights Foundation, there is some mixed news. Allyson Tucker, legal
director and managing editor, describes as "moderate and diplomatic"
the president-elect of the American Bar Association, who will take
office in August. Often called conservative, N. Lee Cooper, is not
expected to attempt to alter the liberal agenda of the ABA's House of
Delegates.
Tucker says Cooper "answers difficult questions with ambiguous answers
and staunchly defends the ABA, even when it takes positions at odds
with his personal views."
He opposes gun control, but will he speak out in opposition to former
ABA president George Bushnell and current president Roberta Ramo, who
have publicly taken stands supporting stricter controls? He does not
believe that the ABA should be involved in social issues, but should
"serve `the mainstream USA lawyer,' " to include working "to stop
frivolous lawsuits and keep political, incompetent judges in line and
disciplined."
Well, one step at a time.
The Mar./Apr. Health magazine reports that emergency physician Gary
Smith of Ohio State University claims over 25,000 children are taken to
emergency rooms each year because of shopping cart mishaps. His
analysis of Consumer Product Safety Commission reports reveals that
head and neck injuries are most common.
Frustrated anti-gunners should take note. There could be votes here.
No one needs shopping carts. There is no individual right to keep and
push shopping carts. Stores which allow irresponsible parents and
toddlers access to such inherently dangerous items should be made to
pay, and manufacturers must be held strictly liable.
Particularly hazardous, of course, are high-capacity carts and those
of a red color, known to increase feelings of aggression.
Let's do it for the kids!
Sincerely,
William Durr
Cornwallville, NY
Physicians Should
Cure Themselves
Gentlemen:
I was glad to see your article on the Medical Association and some
others in the medical profession that seem to be phobic about guns in
the spring issue of Gun News Digest.
It was refreshing to see the defense of gun rights by so many of the
medical profession. But I think there is a plan of the anti-gun medics.
If you had read the survey made by Harvard and others into the deaths
caused by medical negligence you might think that the anti-gun medics
are looking for something to take away the serious charge of medical
negligence deaths. Harvard reported 100,000 deaths a year in
hospitalized patients due to medical negligence. That there may also be
another 100,000 deaths due to medical negligence that are patients
treated in private hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices.
Gun deaths are minuscule compared to medical negligence deaths.
With damning evidence of negligence, the doctors try to blame lawyers
for the high price of medical malpractice insurance. In fact the
Harvard study showed that with 15,000 deaths due to medical negligence
in New York City only 1,300 cases were handled by lawyers. The are
trying to blame lawyers, instead of themselves.
It is true that medical science has come a long way. When lawyers were
writing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, doctors were treating
patients with leeches and blood letting. With all of the improvements
in medicine the doctors are not God, even though they may think so.
I think the doctors would be wise to shut up about gun deaths, and
hope the public does not learn of the hundreds of thousands of deaths
due to medical negligence.
Check it out. The doctors had better cure their problem.
Very truly yours,
Charles J. Smith
Attorney at Law
Moline, IL
Ponders Coincidences
Pushing Legislation
Dear Editor:
It seems to me, and maybe I'm wrong, that before every one of the
crucial votes, that one by one are stripping away our freedoms, that
some incident happens that pushes our elected officials toward total
tyranny.
Am I seeing shadows where there aren't any? Or have I come upon the
heart of this conspiracy. I wonder?
Sincerely yours,
Robert M. Purrinson
Staten Island, NY
