To the Editor:
Re “Liberalism’s Gun Problem” (column, Dec. 6):
Despite Ross Douthat’s characterization of himself as “modestly persuadable” in the gun control debate, he is actually playing right into the hands of the Republican Congress, the National Rifle Association and the gun manufacturers, all of whom are motivated not by the potential problems cited by Mr. Douthat but merely by greed.
Mr. Douthat’s concerns about police tactics, black-market guns and other alleged problems if we had gun control are all red herrings.
States require a license to drive a car; we don’t debate this requirement based on the concept that some people will violate the law or that the police might use unprofessional tactics to enforce it. Without laws, we would be uncivilized.
As shown in other Western countries, laws banning handguns clearly reduce gun violence even if they do not eradicate it. All who carry guns other than hunting rifles are planning on using them to kill others (even allegedly in self-defense). A civilized society should ban them. It’s pretty simple.
ELLYN ROTH
New York
Note from KBJ: Yes, it's simple—to a simpleton. Ellyn Roth has obviously never heard of the Second Amendment. Banning guns won't get rid of guns. All it will do, as anyone with any common sense knows, is ensure that only criminals have guns. Why is this so hard to understand?
