Smaller clips and insurance

In "Guns" (Jan 26) Doug Carl made two statements that gave me pause:

1)"Anyone that's got a suggestion on what gun law would have stopped him (Loughner), have them write into your paper." Fair enough. It is my understanding of the incident that Mr Loughner was finally stopped, by unarmed bystanders, during a point where he had to reload. It would seem logical, then, to establish a system whereby one in possession of a gun would have to reload often. Smaller magazines and clips would require the assailant to pause repeatedly, offering the victims chances to either counterattack or flee, and reduce the number of victims the assailant could assault in any single round. It is not clear that personal protection would be impaired by this restriction.

2) Of gun show policies, Mr Carl says, "We don't allow any concealed carry. Not because we don't trust them, but because the insurance company doesn't allow it. Safety is our No. 1 concern. Dollars are secondary. No Shortcuts." If I understand Mr Carl correctly, he is quite content to be dictated to by a for profit insurance company's rules, but not by rules promulgated by his freely elected government, and he is happy to accommodate those rules by enforcing them upon others in his group. Moreover, the rationale given by the insurance company is apparently that concealed carry poses risk that could result in monetary losses. Mr Carl appears to augment that by suggesting the issue is safety. What would that risk to safety be, exactly? If dollars really were secondary, especially to principles, wouldn't Mr Carl run his shows without insurance, knowing as he does how much MORE safe his shows are with concealed carry weapons present?

— Kenneth Salzman, Lansing

'Think: Dwight Schrute'

I do not own a gun. Nor do I believe that stricter gun control laws would have prevented Jared Loughner's act of terrorism in Tuscon. When I read the story about the man who carried a shotgun into the Downtown Library, where I regularly take my three small children, my first reaction was not, "Now, there is someone standing up for freedom and keeping our streets safe." Instead I thought, "What a douchebag." It was appropriate, but also comical that your story, "Guns, Violence, Politics and the Right to Bear Arms," examined both gun control and mental health, since George Allen seems to have a certain degree of paranoia, blended with some delusions of grandeur. Think: Dwight Schrute from “The Office.” I wonder how many times Mr. Allen has had to stare down armed intruders, or rushed to someone's defense like your average everyday superhero. If sticking a loaded pistol down the front of his pants make him feel more comfortable, go for it, George. (By the way, wolves are indeed predators.) I have come to the conclusion that there will always be some crazy people out there, and there will always be some violent people out there, and some people may be both and they may or may not be armed. Although it is little consolation for those affected by violent crime, the vast majority of us will make through our entire lives without needing to defend it by trying to take someone else's.

— Hedlun Walton, Lansing

Snide liberals

The City Pulse has never pretended to be anything else than a Liberal spout of Progressive points of view. I read your paper because it is a free source of information about how the opposition works.

I avoided ending the previous sentence with "thinks" because it is apparent that most Liberals are incapable of thinking for themselves. This week's piece on gun control prompts me to observe that your disdain for those of us that are NRA members, hunters, shooters, gun owners, and believers in the Constitution got in the way of your attempt to pretend that your were presenting both sides of the issue. Mr. George Allen and Mr Al Stark probably were not surprised with your snide presentation of the "interview" held with each man. I am sure that previous experience warned them that you would slant the article to your agenda. If you are going to produce an editorial, have the courage to label it as same. If you wish to write a news article, learn the basics from those who keep their opinion out of the "news".

— R.T. Brown, Lansing