Oh, how the mighty irritating have fallen! Just a few years ago Sarah Brady was enjoying plenty of media face time while successfully promoting "assault weapon" hysteria and a handgun waiting period. While Ms. Brady is still willing to shamelessly exploit her poor husband as a sideshow act, most recently at a fundraiser in Chapel Hill on April 11th, these days the best she can manage is promoting "child safety " legislation requiring firearms dealers to provide a trigger locking device with every gun they sell. No word on what legal cudgels will be employed to convince the purchasers to actually use them. Yet.
N&O columnist Barry Saunders ("Protecting kids is for meatheads," April 14) joined in the fun, repeatedly insulting the pro-gun protestors who came to picket the dear lady. Heck, careless readers can be forgiven for assuming that Mr. Saunders actually bothered to attend the event! The gent even took a page from Brady's script by repeating the lie that this ridiculous measure is intended to cover "all new handguns" when in fact the proposal's backers plan to include all rifles and shotguns, and make no distinction between new and used firearms.
Let's be serious about what the gun banners wish to accomplish here. At best this measure will be a tax on all gun owners, penalizing them for parents who are too lazy or ignorant to raise their children properly. At worst it will get some people killed when they need a firearm for self-defense, and send otherwise innocent folks to jail when they are caught ignoring a senseless law.
[The following was edited-out.]
I already have one set of locks protecting all of my guns -- they're called deadbolts. If inquisitive youngsters decide to kick in my door in order to "play" with my firearms, allowing them the chance to accidentally shoot each other may very well be the quickest and most efficient way of resolving the problem.
Sincerely,
LF