I got a little distracted this morning. I read a letter to the editor in the Bozeman paper that I felt compelled to respond to. Who knows if they will publish my response but it made me feel better to write it. The letter and my response are below. That’s all I got for today. I’m sure my level of disgust will be sufficiently elevated after Trump’s acceptance speech tonight to get my pen motivated tomorrow.
My response:
I guess I am one of those ‘deplorable gun-owning Neanderthals’ referred to in the letter from Mr. John Trask, “Don’t be fooled, Dems will come after your guns.” Although I am a gun-owner, I do take issue with the labels ‘deplorable’ and ‘Neanderthal’. I doubt if anyone who knows me would consider me ‘deplorable’ and, given that I have three college degrees and had a very successful career, I’m not sure the term ‘Neanderthal’ is applicable either. Beyond the unwarranted personal attacks on responsible gun owners, he ended his letter with, “nothing will stop progressives enacting sensible gun laws and removing all guns.” I guess since he opposes ‘sensible gun laws’ he is for ‘nonsensible’ gun laws. But the statement ‘removing all guns’ is nothing other than blatant hyperbole and a lie. The right to gun ownership is enshrined in the 2nd Amendment in the US Constitution. Further, repealing a Constitutional amendment requires: #1 – 2/3 approval of the House of Representatives #2 – 2/3 approval of the Senate #3 – 3/4 approval of the State Legislatures. The odds that that is going to happen are zero. And in a recent Supreme Court ruling having to do with gun rights, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for personal, lawful use. Given that there are more gun deaths and more mass shootings in the US, by far, than in any other high-income, developed country it doesn’t seem unreasonable to want to at least have a discussion about what might be done to mitigate that problem. The unwarranted and untrue hyperbole propagated by the likes of Mr. Trask just make such a conversation all the more difficult to have.
Logic, empathy, and respect does not change the direction of a Fascist dictator. Before World War Two, Prime Minister Chamberlain of the United Kingdom made an agreement of “Peace in our Time” with Hitler that gave Hitler by thinking he was an honorable man but through deception Hitler gained what he wanted and started World War Two. Trump is of the same cloth as Hitler and if people think they can change his way of doing things though logic and empathy are sorely deceived.
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