NRA’s Education Program Praised
According to the authors of “Manufacturers Must Act to Cut Deaths,” (Orange County Voices, June 7), over 30,000 people are killed by guns in the U.S. each year.
How can an inanimate object be blamed for a single death? Therein lies the fundamental difference between gun-ban activists like Mary Leigh Blek and those of us who--instead of blaming an inanimate object--blame the individual who uses the object in an illegal fashion.
Blek and her co-author, Ellen Freudenheim, go on to attack the National Rifle Assn.’s “Eddie Eagle” program--an elementary school education program that teaches one safety procedure to our children if they ever see a gun: “Stop! Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.”
How can any responsible parent be against such a program? The incident, mentioned by the authors, involving the 12-year-old Mission Viejo girl who was accidentally shot by her friend would not have happened had the girl’s friend been exposed to the “Eddie Eagle” gun-safety program. Yet the Bleks and their ilk oppose such a program in our schools!
Individual accountability is the answer. Whether it is a misguided school official denying a gun safety program in our schools, or a criminal who illegally obtains and uses a firearm, these are the individuals who must be held accountable for an accidental or criminal act involving a gun.
Do we blame a car for a death caused by a drunken driver? Do we blame the car’s manufacturer? Of course not; we blame the individual. We must use the same logic when dealing with any inanimate object needing human interaction for its use, legal or illegal.
The familiar bumper sticker says it all: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Think about it.
RICHARD A. BOWEN
Foothill Ranch
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Mary Leigh Blek and Ellen Freudenheim’s article turns logic on its ear. Now, if a firearm is misused, blame (and sue) the firearm manufacturer. No more individual responsibility for one’s actions! How neat and tidy it all is.
Worst of all, the authors resort to a complete and bald-faced lie when describing the National Rifle Assn.’s “Eddie Eagle” program.
This program is designed to teach young people (grades kindergarten through eight) what to do in the event that a firearm is discovered. While the delivery of the message is geared to the maturity and age group for each grade, the message remains constant at each level.
When you see a gun, “Don’t touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!” What part of this message is the “proverbial fox of a marketing effort disguised in the lamb’s wool of a school-based program”?
The “Eddie Eagle” program was used at my daughter’s school this past April. The material was thoroughly reviewed by the school board, of which I am a member.
It was presented in advance to the parents and then taught by a police officer only after he reviewed the material prior to its presentation. Nowhere in the literature were there any pro-firearm statements.
Would the authors find a course on firearms awareness more credible if Handgun Control Inc. produced it? If the girl from Mission Viejo or the boy from La Palma had learned the message my daughter learned, two needless tragedies might have been prevented.
DANIEL J. NIEMIEC
Huntington Beach
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With all the shootings throughout the nation, I have grave concern over my safety as well as others’.
I have seen kids as young as 10 shooting their classmates because of juvenile differences that are normal for their age.
When I was 10, I hadn’t even seen a gun except on television and movies. Death has also occurred because of the effects of television shows such as the cartoon “South Park” and singers such as Marilyn Manson.
This is ridiculous. Solving the problem needs to come in reforming the entertainment industry and building up America’s families.
BRITTANY WATSON
Dana Point
