Tougher gun restrictions not way to solve violence

Carolyn Schneider (Letters, "Stop killings via sensible gun laws," Dec. 21) blames the "NRA and the misguide souls" for the mass shootings. I didn't read or hear of any of those people being charged with murder in the horrific mass murders lately.

That's like having two children in the house, one is sitting reading and the other is running through the house breaking things and you punish the one who is reading and being good instead of punishing the one misbehaving.

She is right on one point. We do need to enforce the gun laws on the books and punish the people robbing and killing not the innocent people. She is, however, way off the mark when she says that "gun shows don't follow the laws." Every dealer there has to have people wishing to buy a gun from them fill out the government forms and follow procedures. A private citizen can sell his own personal guns to an individual but there are laws that govern those sales, too.

I don't like the "arming everyone" idea either but if a person buys a firearm for protection or any other purpose they should have the sense to become proficient with it, not just put it in a drawer till they need it. Schneider talks of all of the "missed targets at any shooting range," but she doesn't realize that even the most skilled marksman or woman misses from time to time.

It's time to punish the criminals, and make people responsible for their own actions. Don't punish people acting within the law. Doing as she wants is like saying banning the automobiles will make all drunk driving deaths go away.

As for me and mine, a gun in the hand is better than the law enforcement on the phone.

Randall Wayne

Palmetto

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Tougher gun restrictions not way to solve violence ."