It didn't surprise me that the backlash from the Jan. 25 editorial on guns began immediately after it was posted. All Americans are entitled to their view, but the editorial writer should be expected to maintain some level of factual integrity.
Fact is that there are much larger percentages of armed Americans living in rural settings, where violence is low, and that there are far fewer armed Americans living in urban settings where violence can be extreme.
We are subjected weekly to a story or two about home invasion carried out by some thug from away, some probably illegal substance turning another miscreant violent, or pharmacy robberies on the rise. That is the world we live in now.
Would the editorial writer mock those who choose to prepare for an encounter with such people?
Firearms are a discovered technology. How are people supposed to dispose of that knowledge? Do we burn books? Do we label those who refuse to turn over their assault rifles as dissidents? Then detention?
The editorial writer doesn't want people to worry about that because nobody is coming after their hunting rifles. The NRA might think this is about disarmament but not the editorial writer ... it is a lie and the right to keep arms shall not be infringed.
We can believe it because we read it in the Sun Journal. Just like we read how Jim Beam wouldn't close White Rock less than a year ago.
Mark Ferguson, Poland Spring
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New inventions
There are many new inventions. For example there are drones and rocket launchers and missiles and nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons. Surely you do not intend for everyone to be walking around with those. The loose enforcement of tracking and registering guns as well as the non-enforcement of trafficking laws results in guns from the rural areas being imported into the cities where they are used for hunting people. The rate of gun deaths from crime and terroristic assaults and suicides and accidents has reached the point where something needs to be done to make gun ownership safer both for the gun owner, their families and the public at large. January 31st alone saw 200 people dead from gunshot many of them young children and people who had the misfortune to show up at work. The problem is real and not dealing with it will not be an option. The question is will gun owners help or will they become the problem. There are many solutions that will provide gun owners the right to have and use their guns legally and at the same time provide for safety in our communities. We need to get over the fearmongering and posturing and think of real solutions.
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Every weapon you mentioned except maybe the drone is at least 50 years old. Like myself they are hardly new.
How many people were killed in the same period in motor vehicles?
How about on the job accidents?
The list goes on and on, the reality is people are born and people die every day no matter how much we try to stop it.
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It is true that regulating guns will not put an end to dying. But we do regulate cars and as a result lower the number of traffic deaths. We do this by keeping records and enforcing the laws something the NRA won't allow with regards to guns. We also change our laws when they are not working or add a traffic light when there is a particularly dangerous intersection. No one, I think, believes we should, stop enforcing traffic laws and just let carnage on the roads occur and say well people will die someday anyway. As for work accidents I think the statistics on work fatalities since OSHA speak for themselves. People who say regulating guns won't work are talking through their hats because it works in other countries and it has never been tried here. I believe their fear is not that it won't work but that it will.
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Ernest you're trying to minimize people dying by gun violence by throwing the old "car accidents and job accidents" curve ball!
Cars are a necessity for getting us to work and work is a necessity for pay the bills. It even seems stupid that I have to point that out to you.
I already know your response, guns are a necessity to protect our homes and family. My response is that if assault weapons, with the capability of killing many people very quickly, eventually disappeared there would be far fewer mass killings and you could defend your home and family with a good old six shooter because the good old six shooter is the meanest, nastiest weapon available to the general public and the "bad guys".
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Al if killing kids is unacceptable then why are abortions allowed for no other reason than planed parenthood. And please don't come back with the it is her right excuse. It is also her right to say no except in the case of rape. I'm not for or against just bringing up a point.
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Are Womb Boogers Kids??? Corporations may have 'Personhood' - but not undelivered fetus's w/o Birth Certificates.
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Car accidents, job accidents and now abortions? What next, dying of old age is unavoidable so what's wrong with dying at 6 years of age along with 19 classmates?
We're talking about assault weapons and their ability to kill many people very quickly and what we can do to stop it. Your view appears to be, hey shit happens, as long as it's not my kids, business as usual.
PS. The speed limit on the Maine Turnpike north of Bangor has been increased to 80mph. In 1965 I got a speeding ticket on the Maine Turnpike south of Portland for doing 110 in an 80 in my GTO. (that's why I joined the Navy).
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You should also consider that over 50% of the annual gun deaths are due to suicide. There no amount of trafficking and registration laws that will curtail that behavior.
That said, any legislation is less than 50% effective from the start.
All the resent discussions about guns have more to do with emotion and the feeling of doing something then effectiveness. Moreover, the more fear people see in the press cements the action for the next crazy who seeks attention.
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Mark writes: "You should also consider that over 50% of the annual gun deaths are due to suicide."
- So we have hope for you yet, Mark.......
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That comment is inappropriate!
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Military Drawing Up Plans for Nation-wide Gun Confiscations
"WASHINGTON, DC – A senior U.S. general has confirmed that the military has secretly drawn up plans to round up large numbers of privately-owned firearms from American gun owners.
General James M. Scott of the U.S. Air Force confirmed that the Pentagon received a series of formal directives from the White House between November 7 and December 13 to begin plans for a massive nationwide operation to confiscate guns using a series of federal databases compiled over the last few decades.
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Seven Days in May (1964), General James Mattoon Scott attempts to overthrow the US government. Only a conservative can fall for this stuff.
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You and I might have to eat crow. I'm shocked that Gravel, Labbe and the Pirate had it right all along. Oh well, can't win em all.
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Good thing we don't have any Guns for the Guv'mint to take!!!
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I'll hide my OT-6 and 30-30 where they'll never find them, but then I've owned them for such a long time there's no record of me owning a gun. OOPS, I just thought of something, if I bought a hunting license last year they'll probably put 2 and 2 together and know I have a gun. Back to plan "A", hide them!
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Perhaps you can hide them were you stick hour head most of the time.
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You can't suppress your emotions either! I'm still laughing my ass off----Thanks!
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That is not emotion, it is an implied insult!
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You ARE an insult, Mark.
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I'm still LMAO! He hated to see his own paranoia staring him in the face----still LOL!
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...killed in motor vehicles were killed intentionally? How many people killed in on the job accidents were killed intentionally? Oh, right, they were accidents. The list goes on and on but the bottom line is, as an example, there were 26 people killed at Sandy Hook, 20 of them children each with multiple bullet holes in their bodies, and it was done intentionally.
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According to the CDC, about 11,000 out of about 31,000 total gun deaths over the same time (2009) are homicides. This number also includes justifiable homicides. The CDC also reports that 10,839 people died in alcohol related automobile accidents in that same year. Since drinking and driving is an intention act, we see the numbers of intentional deaths, as defined by Woodbury, are about the same are about equal.
Shelf the emotions, look at the numbers.
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...a drunk driver intentionally drives into another vehicle to intentionally kill someone. Remember - you said that, I didn't.
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It is an intentional act to drive while intoxicated. That is enough.
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"Intent" is not an 'Element' of the Offense of O.U.I.
Didn't your lawyer explain that to you..........?
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Same goes for assault weapon owners.
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You're the expert.
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"Just like we read how Jim Beam wouldn't close White Rock less than a year ago."
I can remember when a fairly good sized local paving company was not for sale.......right up until the day it was sold.
The new standard for truth has become, 'tell it when you can; lie when you must'.
By the way,when does the Lewiston City Council or the L/A Growth Council intend to approach Beam Corp. in an effort to show them the benefits of keeping their operations in Lewiston, and perhaps suggesting some incentives to do so? After 165 people have been put out in the streets might be too late.
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We hear much bloviating about creating new jobs, with little or no success. How about showing us a little effort on SAVING a bunch of jobs that already exist.
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"Firearms are a discovered technology. How are people supposed to dispose of that knowledge?" Cars are also a discovered technology aren't they? Are we disposing of that knowledge?
To own and drive a car, one must be of legal age, have taken a written and road test, register, insure and license it and if the privilege to operate that car is abused you loose your license, get fined, forfeit the car and go to jail.
As technology evolves new laws are sometimes needed to prevent that technology from being abused.
Fully automatic guns were once legal, now they're not. 80 mph speed limit on all interstate highways was once legal, now it's not. Fireworks were once legal, then they weren't, now they are. Before computers we had no computer hackers, now we do.
Yup, sounds just like LaPiere.
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When were 80 mph speed limit on all interstate highways legal? You must be a lot older than I am. I believe I have been around since the inception of the interstate highway started under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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Can you remember when cars did not have turn signals?
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He can remember when there were no cars.
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Haha...I don't go back that far, but I can remember when horse manure was fairly common in the streets. Kids on bicycles used to ride over it all the time, having somehow convinced themselves that it was good for the bike tires.
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I'll go one better. Do you know why the metal area under the carpet is called a floor board?
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Not sure, but I'm gonna guess it probably goes back to the days before Henry Ford had discovered that automobiles could also be painted red, blue, brown and green. The floorboards, back then, were probably actually made of wood. In fact, today's Morgan automobiles have a substantial amount of wood in their substructure.
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Because in early cars, they were wooden. When my cousin moved the mat on the driver's side of his Model A, you could watch the road roll by.
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Yes, no turn signals. Back then, everyone was "armed"...and cold in the winter, too!
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My second car had turn signals, radio and heater. All three were aftermarket add-ons. The car apparently came off of the assembly line without them. Hard to imagine. I don't think you can buy a car without A/C today, can you?
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I sold the very first Delorean sold in Maine (at some dealership in Portland years ago). It had a rear engine and guess what separated the engine from the 2 passengers? A fire wall made of 3/4 inch plywood. Go figure? Build a body with stainless steel and fill it with wood. Hell of a good barbeque ride!
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