Shame on Senate and the system

To the editor:

This is in response to the column “Concerns over gun legislation” on April 19.

Though still in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newton, Conn., our Senate failed to pass what could have been life-saving legislation on gun control. I’m incredibly frustrated with the trigger-happy perspectives like I read from Howard Delo in his column headlined “Concerns over gun legislation,” and here’s why.

Delo’s argument parrots many others I’ve heard following every massacre and ensuing debate on gun control. “Honest citizens follow the law. Criminals, by definition do not follow the law.” And so their rationale assumes that new law would only hassle the honest and be useless against the dishonorable.

By this logic should we also de-criminalize drug use and trafficking because the honest will stay honest? Could we allow people to take razor blades, shampoo and conditioner on airlines again? Because, you know, the honest will stay honest.

This is absurd. Public polls showed stronger than 80 percent in support of this legislation. How have we let weapons manufacturers and fanatic advocates, just like tobacco and just like big oil, lobby our public interests with hundreds of millions of dollars to road-block any useful movement forward to a safer, healthier future? Shame on our Senate. Shame on this system.

Brandon Hill

Palmer