Commentary - That pesky Constitution wasn't mentioned in Dalman's column

By Steve Davidson, Alexandria, MN

I have to respond to Dennis Dalman’s column published in the January 18 Echo Press, entitled The evil ‘they’ are out to get ‘us.’

The column contained plenty of insults and ridicule directed at those who might have a different viewpoint. The radical left would be so proud of Dalman’s clever mastery of those Saul Alinsky tactics of intimidation. Alinsky himself would have marveled at his ability to avoid references, evidence and facts to support his emotional outrage.

All Americans want these heartbreaking shootings to stop. We want solutions based on evidence. What really works?

Prior to President Obama’s proposals and executive orders last week, Vice President Biden held meetings with “all concerned” about the gun issue.

However, Biden apparently did not meet with William Landes from the University of Chicago and John Lott form Yale University (Google them and read their study). These renowned economists studied every multiple-victim public shooting in the U.S., going back more than four decades. The common denominators they found were that all but one of these shootings occurred in “gun-free zones,” i.e., schools, malls, theaters, churches, etc., where it was already illegal to possess firearms, and immediately upon being confronted by armed citizens or police, the perpetrator either surrendered or killed himself. The shooting stopped!

The study also showed that the proposals the president is offering had no desired effect on the incidence or severity of these shootings. Only one thing did: The increase in legal, concealed carry of firearms by law-abiding, trained, responsible citizens.

Also missing from Biden’s meetings was Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona. Immediately following the Connecticut Sandy Hook school shootings, Sheriff Arpaio recruited a 3,000-member volunteer posse of retired law enforcement, retired military, and trained citizens, and has them patrolling the perimeters of school properties in Phoenix. Do you think school children in Phoenix are safer? I certainly do. This was accomplished with little or no cost to taxpayers.

Two days after the Connecticut shooting, a man walked into a restaurant in San Antonio and shot his ex-wife. The patrons fled into an adjoining theater. The gunman followed them and began shooting. An off-duty sheriff’s deputy drew her weapon and shot him four times. The shooting stopped! This was ignored by the national media, of course, because it did not support the gun-control agenda. (Google the San Antonio newspaper for the story.)

I’m all for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. The president’s “common sense” proposals call for mandatory background checks, which lead to federal gun registration. The problem here is the federal part. Couldn’t background check information be kept at the county sheriff level and, by law, prevented from access by the federal government? This might help relieve the fears of those who study history and recognize that early in the establishment of every tyrannical, centralized government, guns were taken away from the citizens.

More than 150 million people died during the 20th century in Turkey, Germany, Japan, Russia, China, Rwanda and Cambodia after citizens were left defenseless and the government decided to exterminate its dissenters. Can’t happen here. Right, Dennis Dalman? To view a well-done, concise history lesson, Google “Innocents Betrayed” and watch the video.

You didn’t mention the Constitution in your column, Dennis. You know, that pesky “rule of law” thing that every national government leader has sworn to support, protect and defend against all enemies foreign and domestic. Here it is in case you haven’t seen it before: “A well-trained militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the rights of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” – the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Every law-abiding, patriotic American citizen has the clear right to defend their nation, themselves, their families and their property.

Tags: opinion, commentary