Writer Clarifies His Views on Gun Control

Columnist Scott Harris dedicated an entire column (April 11) to the gun control debate based on a letter that I wrote to him.

While I very much enjoyed the column and appreciated his responding to my letter, I object to his quoting of me out of context so that my point was nullified.

Harris quotes me as saying: “The one point that I have always conceded to the gun prohibitionists is that there are some people who shouldn’t own guns. . . .” He then goes on to quote a statement that I made regarding parental responsibility.

What was omitted was that I suggested that while yes, perhaps there are indeed some people who shouldn’t be allowed to own guns, there are some people who shouldn’t be allowed to have children either, but that we would find abhorrent laws that would allow the state to decide which citizens should be allowed to have rights and whose rights shall be taken away.

Harris quotes me as saying that the behavior of children must be limited and regulated because children do not have adult rights and responsibilities. True. But I think that I went on to say that adults cannot be best served by laws that allow us to be treated as second-class citizens or children by an overbearing and paternalistic government.

Harris uses my statement that the recent assault weapon ban was counterproductive as evidence of an extremist viewpoint. He ignores my point that from the time the bill was proposed until it was signed into law, panic buying caused millions of these guns to be purchased, imported and manufactured.

If we as a nation are to get a grip on what to do about violent crime, we need to stop fixating on the mere means of mayhem and concentrate on the perpetrators of the crimes and our dysfunctional criminal justice system.

RON YORKE

Reseda