“Dear Mr. Lapierre,”

Posted on by tom.wogan@comcast.net

February 15, 2018

 

Mr. Wayne Lapierre

President

National Rifle Association of America

11250 Waples Mill Road

Fairfax, VA 22030

 

Dear Mr. Lapierre:

 

Yesterday in America we celebrated Valentine’s Day and Catholics around the world also marked the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. We also watched the unfolding nightmare in Florida with 17 dead, brought about by a deeply disturbed young man and his rifle. Like in most mass shootings, the shooter did not break a single law until he chambered his first round and fired it into his first victim.

You know the list better than anyone. Some 26 church-going people in Texas gunned down by a madman using a weapon that used .223 caliber military style ammunition. Another madman in Las Vegas used the same ammunition, plus 7.62 millimeter and a few other types to kill 58 and injure more than 500. Before that it was the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando and 49 dead (9 millimeter and 7.62 millimeter), Virginia Tech with 32 dead, (.223 and .22 calibers)  and Sandy Hook Elementary with 27 dead, 20 of them children (223 caliber). The list is endless, including Columbine’s 13 dead (9 millimeter), Aurora, Colorado, 12 dead (.40 caliber and .223 caliber) and on and on. In most cases, very large quantities of legally purchased ammunition were part of the story.

You, Mr. Lapierre, can help fix this. Your organization is, in fact, the law when it comes to gun ownership. Your organization is all powerful, you control the politicians at any level of government. You are exceptionally well funded and can make or break politicians who oppose your 2nd Amendment position. I’m not naive enough to think that a Republican held House, Senate and White House are going to oppose you on gun ownership. We just wait two weeks until the funerals are over and the news cycle rotates and then we can brace for the next one, and the next one, and the one after that.

But your organization, Mr. Lapierre, was founded on the issue of firearms safety. Why not return to those worthy roots and get behind this simple idea:

Start treating the most deadly ammunition the same way we treat powerful drugs that require a doctor’s prescription. Recognize that certain type of ammunition need to be controlled, because they are overwhelmingly used in homicides and mass shootings. Get them off the retail market, both in stores and online. They include: 

  • 9 MM
  • 7.62 MM
  • .223 CAL
  • .380 CAL
  • .45 CAL ACP
  • .22 CAL

This means that within a defined period of time (90-180 days?), these ammunitions come off the retail shelves and the Internet and enter a federally controlled distribution system. This also means that all other types of ammunition are unaffected by this law. You can buy all the shotgun shells, 30.06 rounds, etc. you want (subject to local regulations) for hunting, sporting clays, whatever. These rounds aren’t the problem; they mostly kill deer, birds, varmints, and clay pigeons.  

 The NRA, and probably only the NRA, could make this happen. And in doing so, you could provide the nation with a solution that its citizens desperately want, but whose politicians are mortally afraid to move on. But not if you were behind it.

There are some practical aspects to the plan, so that we keep the range shooters happy, ammo manufacturers can still sell their product, etc. I wrote up some of the practical steps in an article on a blog site. You can read it at http://uncletommyonline.com/?p=377, if you care to. It says some unflattering things about the NRA, but we’re all big boys, so I think we can get past it.

In a single bold stroke, the NRA could alter its’ image within this country and the world from a polarizing stance of “gun ownership freedom at all costs” to the “champions of public safety.” Your membership would grow considerably, once the polarization was off the table and you were behind saving innocent lives. Hell, I‘d even join.

And you can keep your 2nd Amendment position intact. The Constitution doesn’t say anything about bullets, only the muzzles they come out of.  It’s an opportunity for the NRA, Mr. Lapierre. I’m guessing you must be as tired of counting bodies as the rest of us.

 

Sincerely,

Tom Wogan, Sr.

Private Citizen

2 thoughts on ““Dear Mr. Lapierre,””

  1. WELL STATED TOM. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING PEN TO PAPER ON HOW HORRIFIC THIS HAS BECOME NATIONWIDE. LET US NOT FORGET SOME 30? YEARS AGO THE LAURIE DANN ATTACK UPON HUBBARD SCHOOL IN WINNETKA, A WEALTHY SUBURB OF CHICAGO. AS A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL, IDENTIFICATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS WITH POTENTIAL TO COMMIT SUCH ATTACKS IS A LOW PRIORITY. OUR SCHOOLS NEED PROGRAMS AND RESOCURCES TO IDENTIFY THE SIGNS OF TEENS, CAPABLE OF SUCH DEADLY ATTACKS, IN THE CASE OF LAURIE DANN, THERE WAS AN ABUNDANCE OF VIOLENT, BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND REPORTED. ALL OF IT WAS CAREFULLY COVERED UP BY HER DISTRAUGHT FATHER, AND CERTAINLY IGNORED BY SCHOOLS. WE CAN TAKE AWAY THE GUNS, BUT WE ALSO HAVE TO COMMITT TO IDENTIFY THESE VERY ILL, VIOLENT INDIVIDUALS AS A HIGH PRIORITY. MENTAL ILLNESS IN AMERICA IS WIDESPREAD AND THE LEAST FUNDED CAUSE OF ANY/ALL DISEASES.

  2. WELL SAID TOM AND LONG OVERDUE! THANKS FOR PUTTING PEN TO PAPER WITH THE HORRIF NUMBER OF EVENTS THAT HAVE OCCURED AND CONTINUE TO OCCUR NATIOWIDE. LET US N OT FORGET THE FIRST SUCH INCIDENT I HDEARD OF RIGHT HERE IN WINETTKA: LORI DANN AND HER INSANE ATTACK ON AT HUBBARD SCHOOL. A WEALTHY SUBURB OF CHICAGO.
    THERE WETE MANY SIGNS OF HER GOING OFF THE RAILS BEFORE SHE WENT ON HER DEADLY RAMPAGE. ALL OF IT WENT UNOTICED UNTIL THAT FATAL DAY. FROM MY VIDEWPOINT, IDENTIFICATION OF IDIVIDUALS WHO ARE A DANGER TO THEMSELVES AND OTHERS, MUST BECOME A PRIORY. OUR SCHOOLS NEED TO PUT PROGRAMS AND RESOUCES IN PLACE TO SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFY AND TREAT THESE OBVIOUSLY DERANGED INDIVIDUALS BEFORE THEY START SHOOTING. MENTAL ILLNESS IS A

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