Posted 5/2/01 Guns, Second Amendment Rights, liberals, words vs actions To the editor: At the risk of being labeled by liberals as a radical right wing nut, I would like to talk about guns and conceal/carry legislation. To lay my personal groundwork, I am not a big hunter, sportsman or gun collector. I have not hunted for many years. I have two guns that were purchased in the 1970s that have not killed anything other than clay pigeons and tin cans. I also have a 12-gauge shotgun that my great-great-grandfather brought over with him from Sweden. This gun has not been fired in my lifetime or even my dadís lifetime and heís 82 years old. I believe these boring facts give me a casual and objective view on the gun issues. Now with that said, I am however a card-carrying member of the NRA, Minnesota Deer Hunters, Ducks Unlimited and the Wild Turkey Federation. The question you may be inclined to ask with this information is why would a guy like me join these types of organizations? The answer is simple. Gun ownership and gun rights have everything to do with Freedom and our Constitutional Rights as an American. I support these freedoms and rights with all my heart. The proposed Minnesota right to conceal and carry legislation is called the Minnesota Citizens Personal Protection Act of 2001. The MCPPA is very important for many reasons, and here are just a few: 1. If the law-abiding citizens do not have the freedom to be armed, the only armed people will eventually be the police and the criminals. If criminals are unsure if the citizens are armed or not, they will think twice about perpetrating crimes against law-abiding citizens. 2. I have also heard many women lament the fact that the feel unsafe walking, jogging or being alone at home. The uncertainty of predator criminals as to whether or not a woman is armed levels this playing field. Predator criminals would have easy prey without the reality of conceal and carry. The mere possibility of a woman being armed and able to cause great bodily harm upon the predator criminal stops many of these sick perverts cold. 3. Further, if there were a certainty that American citizens were unarmed, the temptation for some power-hungry despot would be ever present trying to make us into a police state. This power grab scenario has repeated itself in history over and over, and is exactly the reason why our forefathers fought to give us the Second Amendment right to bear arms in the first place. Concerning the proposed MCPPA, The law currently reads that a county sheriff or police chief may issue a permit to carry a firearm. The proposed law changes that to shall issue. As it now stands, the law gives way too much indiscriminate power to the issuing authority based on personal political beliefs and emotions rather than standardized legal criteria. In practice it makes it almost impossible in some jurisdictions to get a permit to carry a firearm and in others it may be too easy. The proposed legislation would make it so that a permit can and will be issued upon request (or application) unless a personís background prohibits issuance, such as cases of felony or DWI arrest, etc. This law is fair, equal and does not discriminate. In a final note, it has come to my attention that contrary to what she wrote in the newspaper article, our state senator Twyla Ring, claiming that she favors the ìright to carry.î flip-flopped when it really counted. She voted to prohibit the Minnesota Citizens Personal Protection Act from even coming to the Senate floor for discussion. She stated she had some concerns in the bill, and wanted more debate, but when given the opportunity for that debate, she voted to deny that opportunity. Maybe this means that Senator Ring is afraid that if the Senators had the opportunity to vote on the bill it would pass into law. The House of Representatives now has already debated this bill at length and handily passed it by a margin of 85-45. What is left to debate? I would ask that you call Senator Ring at 651-296-5419 as soon as possible and ask her why she voted against your Second Amendment Rights. It is time for Minnesota to join all the 33 other states that do not deny their citizens the right to protect themselves. Lately there has been a lot of movement in the left wing establishment that would like to slowly but surely erode away our rights, and especially our gun rights. We as Americans must stand together against those who would take any of our rights away including gun rights. Our forefathers in their infinite wisdom gave us those rights, and in giving them to us many of these great Americans even made the ultimate sacrifice and died. When they gave so much, how can we do so little to safeguard our rights? Bruce Nelson Pine City ©Post Review