To the editor:
In response to your editorial, “Our View: Lewiston’s nightmare is our nightmare, too” (Oct. 30).
Yes, we are all troubled by what occurred in Lewiston last week and we should be. The fact that a person so troubled, had access to deadly weapons, especially in light of the fact that the local police had apparently raised warning flags about his behavior, which were ignored by the very people who could have prevented this tragedy. Now 18 people are dead and 18 families must live with that pain, as will the family of the alleged shooter.
And yet are we not also troubled by the abuse of the First Amendment, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, by pundits and editors who feel it’s OK to disseminate misinformation in order to sway public opinion to their way of thinking?
You print a quote and tacitly agree with it: “Part of the reason why gun violence continues in Massachusetts despite having stronger gun laws is because of weak federal laws where you can simply go to New Hampshire or Maine or a state with weaker gun laws and bring them across state lines to Massachusetts.”
That is pure baloney. The “weak federal Laws”, aka the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, strictly forbids buying a gun in a state where you are not a resident unless it is shipped to a federally licensed gun dealer in your home state! That’s two background checks!
You quoted another person, “We learned that there are an average of two mass shootings a day in the U.S”, so that makes over 600 so far this year?
But the Pew Research Center says there is no consistent definition of “mass shooting”. Thus the several sources they list show a range of 60 persons killed in six incidents, to 628 killed in 503 incidents for the year 2019. No consistency. Who can you believe?
The gun control advocacy group everytown.org: In the eight years between 2015 and 2022, over 19,000 people were shot and killed or wounded in the United States in a mass shooting, while the Gun Violence Archive lists 15,000-20,000 in each of those years.
The numbers don’t add up. You can make statistics say anything you want them to. Do a little research.
And they started counting gang shootings a few years ago to make the numbers sound worse.
If you really want to make as difference in fighting crime, go after the criminal element: Those committing the murders, the people stealing guns, or making straw purchases and selling them to other criminals; and do something to help the mentally disturbed.
Passing convoluted “feel-good” legislation accomplishes nothing but making things difficult for law-abiding citizens.
David P. McKenna,
Danvers
Read More: Letter: Who can you believe | Opinion