European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse I stars in the editors let s not emote. Let s think i have read your totters tothe editor commenting on or. Bennington s article against Federal gun legislation. I note with interest that you gave the equivalent of 3h columns to those advocating strict gun legislation and Only 1& columns to those against Couch legislation. This has been typical of stripes reporting on this subject. Can t you confine you editing to an editorial column if you Don t believe you redoing this look at your editions on the subject such As Page 4 of the june 21 stripes. There is on this Page a huge anti Era article signed by the associated press Why arts t they Neutral and three other Antigua articles. It. Kearns comments Thater. Bennington has Reading trouble because he reads in the Constitution that the people shall not be disarmed. Our forefathers had jus come from beneath tyranny when they wrote into the con what has honest citizen to fear Stit ution a w 5ll-reguluted militia being necessary to these purity of a free state the right of the people to keep arms shall not be i now or. A tuning tort read very Well. It pee meals be pie i the National guard or any other organised group. A Well regulated militia can be it a a for our nation out of people who Are familiar with guns much better than out of a crop of people whose parents taught them never to touch the Nasty things instead hold your fire never have 1 read anythings absolutely illogical. Or in . Bennington s attack on gun legislation. Reflected the same old tired cliches that Are trotted out continuously to thwart the will of the majority of our . Bennington is of course without Bias so evident in his opening Salvo that tie is not against All the hysterical legislation that our lawmakers Are failing Over themselves to in curious How defenders of Possession of firearms so quickly quote the Constitution the writers of the Constitution also believed you should be White,21 years of age and a property owner for voter qualification the Constitution has so obviously evolved King George Pihas turned to dust the indians live peacefully among us or on reservations the Frontier Dis appeared in 1890 and vigilant Justice ? has thank heaven , nothing i his column exceeds in Absurdity the Appeal to fight the dirty reds on the beaches. Does idiotic babbling truly come under the first amendment continuing an examination of or. Bennington s logic he do snot favor the Sale of arms to known criminals juveniles. Incompetents however stored blooded 100 per cent americans alias Bircher unlimited Sale and use of fire arms is alright provided you obstruction of sane. Safeguards our country was founded on the revolutionary at that time idea that a people could an should be Able to intelligently govern themselves. The largest blot upon this otherwise admirable record i that sometimes Small minorities through influence persistence or outright graft have been Able to enact legislation which is either of no Benefit to the majority or outright detrimental tits interests. One example is the obstruction of sane reasonable Safe guards against the misuse of firearms by a Small group of individuals. By its own figures Only one half of 1 per cent of the Popula Tion Are members of the Era 1 million members in a total population of 200 million. Several nationwide Survey Sand polls have indicated 70-80 per cent of the country in i favor of stricter regulations of the traffic in and use of fire can sort them has the honest citizen to fear from licensing he should have nothing to hide. He should cheerfully produce License prior to buying ammunition. If the outlet is Legal what has the honest sportsman to fear from registering but those whose purposes Are not so Legal do have something to fear from licensing and Reg Laws should not be effected because they can be violated then carrying this argument to the extreme would naturally result in the abrogation of All Laws they Are All impede crime and make Justice possible no one has Ever claimed they eliminate , Why does Constitution Loving Benny keep All those firearms locked in a room tonsure there will always be an England or to repel violators of his Domain provided he can find the key and unlock thedoor in time. Not Likely. More probably Benny has a fixation about weapons. Maj. John f. Considine Wiesbaden Germany we Don t mind getting More letters on this subject and Well read every one. However with this Page we feet we have covered the gun controversy thoroughly and will now turn to other subjects. The editors we should crack Down on the criminal arms. Joseph a. Smith Heidelberg Germany dear Benny t just finished Reading your column and have decided Totake you up on your offer and air my views. I must admit that i m against additional gun legislation. Granted crime in the state Sis on the increase. But As far As crimes of violence commit Ted with firearms Are concerned i Don t think the Rise i these crimes is inadequate gun control Laws but duet inadequate enforcement mainly on the local and stat level and the leniency with which the courts Deal with individuals who commit crimes of violence with firearms or other weapons for that matter both initial violators and repeated vast majority of us americans owning firearms. Whether these be rifles shot guns or handguns use them for completely legitimate Pur poses whether it be target shooting linking Hunting gun collecting or self Home Protection. We Don t need additional Adverse legislation. This leaves us with the minority group of gun towners the criminals. I believe we should crack Down on the criminal enforce the Laws that we now have on the books. I think the criminal or potential Cri Toal think twice before Bea crime of violence with a fire Arm if he knew that arrest and conviction meant a set sen tence with no Opportunity for parole. If effective enforcement Means better trained better equipped and More Law enforce ment officers Well let us then pass legislation to accomplish this end. I am a life member of then a and an annual member of the Ara american reload ers association. I like to plink and i enjoy Hunting. I own six firearms. I desire very much to maintain ownership and pos session of these firearms and be Able to use them in an entirely lawful manner without undue restrictions being placed upon me. -ct1 Alfred p. Sutlick , Spain in their. Educating them or use. Senato Kirchhoff wants Towhy or. Bennington of to to having his guns registered or to have a License to have a gun. I believe i can clearly an or that question if the very thing our forefathers wrote the amendment to prevent occurred or a attempted thed Evolo pi5ht6 a tyrannical government in our of nation a Gestapo Uke pickup of our privately owned weapons would be easy if they were centrally registered. And renal Are you naive enough to think an enemy s spy system could not keep duplicate lists of our registered or licensed guns Hitler did and picked up the French people s private Wear. Order. These Are is the value of gun a Wien my Home metropolitan code demanded. ,. _ a we a a a it Down with a Gam ble. We asked each of 11 police chiefs from the cities within the county to bring into the hearing the number of crimes solved or prevented because Oscity gun registration Fen the last 10 years their diligent search came up with one Case which had simultaneously Bee solved by another detective with other clues. Robert Ken Nedy was shot with a registered gun. Truman was shot Atwith a registered gun and the new York men who shot up Congress a number of years ago All had registered guns and All hailed from new York the state with the toughest gun Laws. Please let s not emote free Dom stealing ant constitutional Laws through let s think capt. William b. Nash former member National sheriff s association Munich Germany on endangers now Registrat county the new gun Rej we fou reply is hog Wasti or. Bennington in your column browsing with Benny you invite com ments from your readers on your stand regarding gun control legislation. I have written to Sens. Joseph m. Montoya and Clinton p. Anderson and to rep. Thomas g. Morris allow new Mexico telling them that i am strongly in favor of such legislation. One sentence of yours expressed in most elegant eng Lish particularly caught my at Tention. It is and i quote exactly my reply is hog Wash with that sentence i find my self in full agreement. Col. A. L. Billiard ret Nuernberg Germany Register sleeping pills Page 14 president Johnson propose the National registration of every gun in the nation and the licensing of every person own ing a our conscience might not a further affronted i sub Mit that we should act immediately to Register each bottle of sleeping pills now hold in Over the counter and to require each customer wishing to Purchase sleeping be duty licensed be More each person wishing to buy sleeping pills should be forced to undergo a the stars and stripes Complete psychiatric Examina Tion to determine whether he has any suicidal tendencies or whether he has any animosity toward children who Are extremely vulnerable to overdoses of sleeping pills similarly All other dangerous types of pills and All poisonous substances such As insecticides Weed killers etc., must a adequately dealt with by new harsh legislation. Yes and plastic bags too. Spec. 5 Glenn b. Jackson Berlin avid though misinformed advocate or. Ralph Bennington last week sen. Joseph of Maryland Ruditi meet the press which sacred Over an. The Good sen Ator is an avid though Possis misinformed advocate of Ami gun Laws. In this program made the statement that a though new York City has a Ftnat gun Law it is not such m would prevent a citizen fan having a handgun in his Horn for personal Protection. Of Law Mal resident of Newyork City i will personally 3one Hundred of the senator s next Campaign posters if Pecan get without influence Joe average construe Tion worker a permit to keen a pistol to his Home in Newyork City. I am a sect and trap shooter. A Lousy one to be sure but from it. When i have mentioned that i like to shoot skeet i have had people ask me if Heyart Good. I and most other skeet shooters reload their own am munition. . 17735, the Bill introduced by rep. Emanuel Celler of new York includes a provision whereby a $10 a Cense would be required to manufacture any Small arms ammunition. Now if this is not harassment then 1 had better discard my dictionary. In closing let me say that there Are very few firearms owners who do not want but actually require a form of Good firearms legislation. The National Rifle association a firm advocate of sane firearms us and legislation has been made a Scapegoat by distorted an biased reports that tend to make the average citizen fee that any member of this outfit is a Radical. A. Sgt. Edward Jones Brussels the right to life firearms legislation is currently a hot topic and certain Points seem to be generally agreed upon by those of us in favor of Strong gun Laws. First we do not accept Strin gent legislation As an infringe ment of our constitutional rights. The indiscriminate own. Reship of guns is a potential infringement of an even More Basic right the right to life our own our neighbors our friends or political loaders. We do not accept the or chief s Contention that guns Don t kill people. This argument is so patently absurd. Equally myopic is the idea that just As Many homicides suicides accidental occur without guns. When a gun is available Dur ing a heated argument Many people May and do respond of of proportion to the proved Tion. We do accept and appreciate the recreational desires Hunters. We do accept Tonj necessity of handguns for a Section under certain spew circumstances. , order to counteract a current mass attempt at Waw washing by the Era it � operative that each concerned individual write to their restive congressmen before runs out and Public apathy in again. That is until Anotn National figure is assassinate Irene m n Liel Zielberg monday july 8 1
