Standing up for NRA

Dear Editor:As an NRA member, I felt it was my duty to inform you that changing the law wouldn't change what happened in Colorado. ("Stand up to NRA," Letters to the Editor, 7/26/12) Nor would the dismantling of the NRA. Of course it is human nature to point fingers after a horrific act of violence like this but the person to point at is James Holmes. We would not blame the AAA for a drunk driver that kills innocent people, would we? The NRA is a nonprofit group to "protect" our rights to the Second Amendment and "promote firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States." It is not some evil organization that we should fear as the letter writer promoted. As Americans we should stand up for the NRA to help preserve this right that most country's shall never have. The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Just knowing there is a good guy with a gun around - a cop, guard or, yes, a law-abiding citizen - makes us feel safer because we are indeed safer. Matthew Santisteven Downey

Dear Editor: The issue is not the gun or any organization, but it is an issue of society and of our Constitutional rights. The Asian world has always been baffled at the western world, especially the United States. Why? If we here in the western world have a headache, we take an aspirin. We never address the actual reason as to what caused the headache. In not knowing what caused the headache, we will certainly experience another headache. At least 95 percent of all TV shows, cable, satellite, movies and video games involve some type of violence. Unspeakable scenes of killing using everything from knives, axes to guns. We as parents see nothing wrong by letting our children buy all these games and watch all the shows containing violence. Imagine how that affects our future society? Unless the teaching against violence to all people is enforced, these acts of violence will continue into the generations to come. The 2nd Amendment is a Constitutional right. We began this country by a set of rights and laws. Slowly these rights are being taken away from us in plain sight. Not only the NRA but other organizations which protect our constitutional right are right now fighting for you and me in Washington, D.C. If you do not want any of your rights taken away, get involved. A representative on the Senate floor after this terrible incident in Colorado stated "according to Scripture, the rain falls on the good and the bad." It is life. The NRA, being an organization of human beings, feels the loss also. I mourn also, but also mourn for the lost family members killed by the drunk driver, the families who lose loved ones from the use of illegal narcotics, the families who lose their loved ones to cancer from tobacco. These are daily losses. Much more loss than what any firearm could do. Vince Diaz Downey

********** Published: August 02, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 16