Guns and government

Specifics please

Regarding “Powerless in D.C.” (Page A18, Thursday), the editorial lists four occurrences we “shouldn’t consider normal.” All four relate to gun-control measures that should be taken to alleviate, if not prevent, future occurrences.

You then call upon lawmakers — who your editorial says “must feel powerless after watching a gunman fire upon a congressional baseball practice” — to use their legislative powers to: “solicit studies that help us understand what sorts of regulations keep us safe; use their bully pulpit to push for a greater culture of responsibility among gun owners; to write laws that make it harder for criminals to get their hands on deadly weapons.”

The third use of legislative powers states the most crucial element of gun-control legislation because — no matter how strict the measures, including confiscation of all firearms except for those used by law enforcement and the military, leaving private citizens without firearms for self defense as in Australia — criminals will either not surrender their firearms or will soon procure others illegally.

To further complicate the issue, if firearm ownership by private citizens for self-defense were outlawed in the U.S., it’s quite likely many otherwise law-abiding citizens would be considered criminals.

Perhaps the editorial board could give lawmakers some specifics on how to write laws that make it harder for criminals to get their hands on deadly weapons.

Neil Stovall, Houston