Letter to the Editor: Response to “Some rhetoric surrounding gun control misguided”

By Jake Smiley

After reading Jaime Watt’s column on gun reform last week, I came away confused — I could not understand her argument. In the first column, she claimed she didn’t want to take away honest citizens’ guns, only that certain vaguely untrustworthy people should be disarmed.

But then, after vacillating over whether mental illness was or wasn’t the problem, she asserted that nobody should have an AR-15 rifle. So, which was it?

Further, she pushed two rather ugly narratives about religion and gun rights. She derided the idea of “thoughts and prayers,” implying religious people choose to pray instead of act. But who honestly believes prayers are magic words? Prayer is an earnest gesture demonstrating sympathy for the victims of a tragedy and a request that God grant the departed peace in the afterlife.

Similarly, she baselessly accused Congress of prioritizing “NRA money” instead of public safety. It was absurd to insinuate that politicians supporting the Second Amendment have no real principles and only uphold gun rights for money  a more reasonable and charitable assumption would be that they honestly believe what they say they believe and the NRA promotes them for this reason.

Further, the idea that the goals of the NRA are somehow in opposition to the safety of the citizen is as preposterous as thinking that “Mothers Against Drunk Driving” somehow opposes responsible consumption of alcohol.

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You can disagree with their policy suggestions, but NRA members want safe gun ownership just like the rest of us. Don’t assume that if people don’t agree with you, it’s because they don’t care.

If you want productive discussion, make clear your position, and avoid pointing fingers and raising the boogeymen of the AR-15 and the NRA. Why not start by asking why the police failed to do their job?

Jake is in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

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