Letter: Passing more gun laws isn't the answer

To the Editor:

President Obama and the Democratic leadership are shameless for using the tragic Connecticut school shootings to push their anti-gun agenda as somehow an instant solution to this horrific crime against innocent children. Rahm Emanuel, one of the Democrats’ chief lieutenants, is quoted as saying, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

This is a perfect example of one of those moments for them.

What the American public wants is for leadership to prevail to prevent such a horrific crime against innocent children from ever occurring again. Those victims weren’t Democrats or Republicans/ They were innocent children.

Any solution should investigate the “root cause” of this terrible crime to determine how to prevent another occurrence. We saw the “lock-down” at Red Wing High. Are we next? What’s going on in this society?

Factors are numerous: Hollywood’s glorifying violence and crime, officials ignoring serious mental health issues because we might offend someone, drug addictions abound, the list goes on.

There are more than enough gun laws on the books for legal firearm use. Schools are “gun-free zones.” What if a properly trained teacher or principal or parent had a firearm on them and shot a lunatic before he murdered 20 kids?

More gun laws likely would have a reverse effect on crimes. Look at Chicago and Washington, D.C., where strict gun laws are in place. They have the highest murder rate in this country. Why? Because only criminals and police have firearms. Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens leaves the criminal free to pick more innocent victims at will.

More gun laws for law abiding citizens are not the answer regardless of your politics.

Bob Spielman

Red Wing

Tags: opinion, letters