The recent carnage in Littleton, CO, has prompted me to speak out.
I would appreciate it if you would read this, and pass it on if you think it merits doing so.
I love guns. I love them in the same way I love a fine car, camera, or motorcycle. When I was in high school, I had marksmanship awards from the NRA and the Boy Scouts.
But every police officer I know, and my own common sense, says there is no reason for anyone to have a handgun or an automatic weapon.
While it's true that guns didn't cause Littleton (or Jonesboro, or the rest of them), it is true that easy availability of guns played a significant part.
I propose we banish all handguns and automatic weapons from our country. To fulfill Constitutional and sporting needs, we can allow full-length, single-shot rifles and shotguns.
Anyone who has a gun, or commits a crime using a gun or anything that looks like a gun goes to jail.
In two years, when they're all gone, police patrols replace their guns with Tasers or other non- lethal weapons.
People I suggest this to say, "It's a great idea, but it'll never happen." Of course it won't happen if we don't make it happen. We stopped the war. We saved Lake Erie. We can get rid of guns by talking and writing and creating the reality that they have no further place in American life.
Just take the opportunity, whenever it comes up, to sell the "no more guns" idea, and maybe it won't take so long, after all.
Drew Wallen
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
