To the editor, WSJ
re: "Some Gun Rules We Can All Agree On" by Michael Bloomberg and Thomas Merino, WSJ, June 30, 2008
Mayors Tom and Mike would have us believe that "closing the gun-show loophole" is a rule "we can all agree on." Well answer me this, my mendacious mayors: If the whole edifice of federal control of gun dealers is based upon the constitutionally shaky premise of "interstate commerce," then how can you stretch that fig leaf to cover individuals who are not dealers and who only buy or sell a few personal guns a year within their state of residence?
Gun dealers who participate in gun shows are already required to conduct themselves as they would in their shops, with full federal paperwork and background checks. What you're after is total government control of the private sale of arms. Not even King George III was THAT grasping.
This is very dangerous ground you're pushing the country toward. Just because you have two presidential candidates who agree with this monstrous attack on individual liberty doesn't mean the armed citizenry will go along with it. You remember us, surely? We are citizens, not subjects, and we're the ones with the firearms.
Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
re: "Some Gun Rules We Can All Agree On" by Michael Bloomberg and Thomas Merino, WSJ, June 30, 2008
Mayors Tom and Mike would have us believe that "closing the gun-show loophole" is a rule "we can all agree on." Well answer me this, my mendacious mayors: If the whole edifice of federal control of gun dealers is based upon the constitutionally shaky premise of "interstate commerce," then how can you stretch that fig leaf to cover individuals who are not dealers and who only buy or sell a few personal guns a year within their state of residence?
Gun dealers who participate in gun shows are already required to conduct themselves as they would in their shops, with full federal paperwork and background checks. What you're after is total government control of the private sale of arms. Not even King George III was THAT grasping.
This is very dangerous ground you're pushing the country toward. Just because you have two presidential candidates who agree with this monstrous attack on individual liberty doesn't mean the armed citizenry will go along with it. You remember us, surely? We are citizens, not subjects, and we're the ones with the firearms.
Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126