Response from email before vote yesterday

[Pooch15825]

I sent emails to Representatives before the vote yesterday expressing my feelings on the House Bills they would be voting on. I was firm but polite, not in their face with threats which always turns them off to what you have to say.

I must say, the only person to respond back to me to even acknowledge that I had emailed my opinions was Representative John Pollone from the 54th District, not even my District yet he got back to me, below is his response. It is of course a letter sent out to anyone and not personalized to me specifically, still, no others even had the deceny to respond in this way.

I am going to email all of them again expressing my pleasure for those that voted against the bills and displeasure with those that didn't and I will bring up the fact that the ones that didn't respond even if by a standard letter will not be forgotten come election time. Pretty bad when your own Representative doesn't respond back, even after emailing and calling his office and leaving a message.

One main thing I pointed out in my emails as to the one gun a month bill, was that they have a one gun a month law in California (as well as other places) and the crime rate has not dropped, but continues to grow. Federal law already requires that gun dealers report multiple purchases of firearms to the BATFE and and other specified law enforcement agencies. So if they are required to report these sales they should have on record who purchased them and if they are found to be a straw purchase, the buyer should be sent to jail for a mandatory 20 years. If a crime is committed with one of these add 10 years and if a murder is committed, then the buyer should be charged as if he/she had done the shooting and get life or the death sentence.

The way to limit violent crime, or any crime for that matter, is not a one stop shopping theory, no feel good legislation will fix things. It starts in the home with your upbringing, get rid of all the PC garbage and give a kid the discipline they need when they need it. It does not take a village to raise a kid, this sort of thinking is one of the reasons we are where we are, parents take no responsibility and schools try to take what little they do have away from them. If you commit a crime you pay for it, no slap on the wrist and a hundred chances in the hopes you will turn around. You rob you get jail time, you kill you get the death penalty, you rape or molest a child, you get castrated or the death sentence and if you get castration you still serve jail time.

We have not only coddled criminals (and politicians) in this country for to many years, we have become such a lawsuit minded country people are afraid to say or do anything that might get them in trouble. In doing so we (meaning most Americans) have forgotten what it is to be free and don't speak out for what we believe to be right.

I am a firm believer in ballots not bullets, but if things don't change pretty soon for the better in this country, ballots may not be enough to save us.

Pooch15825

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you for contacting me relative to House Bills 18, 22 and 29 and the proposed debate before the House Judiciary Committee on gun control legislation in Pennsylvania. I always welcome comments from my constituents and others on any issue that is before the state legislature.

While I acknowledge and recognize that illegal gun activity, primarily in the larger cities, for a number of reasons is out of hand, I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water. In defense of the legal gun purchasers and owners, more restrictive gun regulation will not take "illegal" guns off the streets. This clearly is not a problem in the Southwestern region of Pennsylvania. The majority of my constituency is gun advocates - collectors, sportsmen (sportspersons) - hunters for game or sport, clay pigeons or skeet shooters, target shooting, and/or competitive marksmen (markspersons).

Since this debate started last session in the House during the Committee of the Whole, the largest number of the contacts (both in district and out of district) that I received were generally against more gun control and a small number of the contacts (both in district, but more out of the district) that I received were for more gun control. While I am sympathetic to the problem in some areas, particularly Philadelphia, it is not symptomatic of the entire state, particularly Southwestern PA. Additionally, last year when similar gun control legislation was introduced during the Committee of the Whole and this year when similar gun control legislation was presented to this committee, when the bills were called up for a vote by the committee and/or entire house legislative body, the bills failed miserably.

This is one of those conservative vs. liberal issues that puts Pennsylvania on the map as a state with a "confused electorate" - we are a democrat (blue) state but moderate or conservative (almost red) on the gun control issue as well as several other issues. The National Democrat message hurts us particularly in Southwestern PA and in most other parts of the state on this issue and you will find that the PA Legislature has a bias towards Pro-Gun Legislation and is not generally in support of additional gun control legislation.

It really isn't as bad as the gun control advocates want you to believe it is and I will objectively agree that the situation may not be completely what the pro-gun lobby wants you to believe either. And I don't think the government is trying to strip anyone of the right to legally own or legally possess guns. I don't have a problem supporting reasonable gun control legislation, but I'd prefer to see the current laws enforced before we introduce and pass any new ones.

The legal gun owners, the legal gun purchasers and the legal gun sellers are already complying with the law and will most likely continue to comply with the law; new, old or otherwise. The bottom line is that it is the "illegal" gun holders, purchasers and sellers that are the problem and in my opinion, the "illegal" gun activity will remain a problem, even if more gun control laws are passed. Let's face it, the law breakers aren't going to begin to follow the new laws any more than the law breakers follow the existing law now.

Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue and thank you for your support. Gun control is most certainly an important issue, on both sides of the argument and I take my support or non-support of an issue very seriously. But, I'm a realist - I just don’t think this type of legislation will stop "illegal" gun activity or gun crimes. I strongly oppose unnecessary gun control legislation and will continue to advocate for the sportsmen and legal gun owners, purchasers and sellers throughout Pennsylvania. If you have any questions, require additional information, or desire to discuss this issue in greater detail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours,
John Pallone
State Representative
54th Legislative District

[D-FENS]

I appreciate you taking the time to write the Reps yesterday. Pallone sent that form email out to everyone but the asshole still managed to vote for HB29

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/139230-post-124.html