My response to an idiotic op/ed letter in the Daily News today...

[TravisBickle]

So I saw this letter in the Opinion section of the Daily News today and couldn't let it go unchallenged:

"
J.F. WOLFINGTON (letters, Feb. 6) proposes questions on gun control that he feels will be difficult to answer, but are in fact easy.

The reason that the dumb, ineffective gun laws have more violent effect in modern times is due to several factors. The most obvious is gun technology, including the invention of Teflon-coated, hollow-point, "cop-killer" bullets, the wide availability of automatic assault weapons capable of spraying an area with deadly projectiles and cheap concealable plastic weapons not easily detected by scanning equipment.

In addition, some of the most violent criminals come from outside our country and have no stake in our communities.

Third, guns have reached a critical level of saturation in some communities Their very presence elevates road rage to murder, and drug deals gone bad into the snuffing of innocent life. Guns don't disappear - they simply recirculate while new weapons enter our neighborhoods. Until Wolfington and his National Rifle Association buddies acknowledge that urban neighborhoods are fundamentally different from thinly policed rural areas and well-controlled affluent suburban areas, and deserve different gun controls, their epidemic of guns will continue to make other people's communities unsafe and unsound.

Ben Burrows, Elkins Park"





Look for my response in the Daily News op/ed section by Friday of this week or Monday of next week. They ALWAYS publish my letters! (I would post it right now but I went on a deleting rampage and lost the draft copy )

[looperrun]

Obviously Ben has no idea what he's talking about. He is parroting the anti-gun community talking points and nothing more. You give'em heck in your answer. Hope it wakes Ben and people like him up!~!

[knight0334]

Teflon coated hollow points are an oxymoron. Hollow points are designed to stop by expanding themselves to transfer all of their kinetic energy. The mythical Teflon coated bullet is supposedly covered with Teflon to allow the bullet to pass through a target's armor without expansion. Expansion is the enemy of penetration.

Full metal jacketed bullets are more likely to penetrate an officer's vest, where as a hollowpoint will expand and stop. Bullet shape, diameter, jacketing type and overall energy determines it's ability to penetrate a vest - not some mythical type of bullet that the uninformed media and anti-gun crowd has claimed.

In reality, Teflon coated bullets are rarely if ever used. Very few laboratories have ever seen them for testing.

Hollowpoints are actually safer for LEO's and innocent bystanders because of the bullets design to slowdown or stop in the target.

The cheap plastic gun myth is also a statement of ignorance. None of the modern guns made with a polymer type frame are hard to miss with scanners. Only America's anti-gun lunacy and media has that myth embedded in their minds. All of today's and yesteryear's polymer firearms are easily seen on any scanner.

The areas of America where guns are more saturated, the crime levels are less. In many towns in Pennsylvania, it would be rare to NOT find a gun in a house - yet violent crime is relatively low. Criminals migrate to where they can find victims more easily - big cities, places where people cant protect themselves, etc.

All that is stated above are facts, not emotional statements from someone with absolutely no knowledge of crime or weaponry.

[billamj]

All of what you say is true knight0334 but try telling that to one of those who obviously know so much more than barbarians such as us. Facts are not for the faint of heart and the vast majority of the anti crowd are just that.

[LorDiego01]

Please post your response. I dont know if Im a minority or a majority, but I dont get the newspaper.

[billamj]

I dont know if Im a minority or a majority, but I dont get the newspaper.

That would definitely make you a part of the majority. That is why the two papers are working out of the same building these days and why they've been having layoffs, no one reads the rags.

[762xIan]

Please do post your reply, like to hear your response to this clap-trap.

As far as newspapers go, I haven't bothered in about 10 years, occasionally I will get a Sunday paper for the ads.

Old timer I used to work with used to call newspapers "Fishwrap" because thats all they were good for.

[RandomTask]

Teflon coated hollow points are an oxymoron. Hollow points are designed to stop by expanding themselves to transfer all of their kinetic energy. The mythical Teflon coated bullet is supposedly covered with Teflon to allow the bullet to pass through a target's armor without expansion. Expansion is the enemy of penetration.

Full metal jacketed bullets are more likely to penetrate an officer's vest, where as a hollowpoint will expand and stop. Bullet shape, diameter, jacketing type and overall energy determines it's ability to penetrate a vest - not some mythical type of bullet that the uninformed media and anti-gun crowd has claimed.

In reality, Teflon coated bullets are rarely if ever used. Very few laboratories have ever seen them for testing.

Hollowpoints are actually safer for LEO's and innocent bystanders because of the bullets design to slowdown or stop in the target.

The cheap plastic gun myth is also a statement of ignorance. None of the modern guns made with a polymer type frame are hard to miss with scanners. Only America's anti-gun lunacy and media has that myth embedded in their minds. All of today's and yesteryear's polymer firearms are easily seen on any scanner.

The areas of America where guns are more saturated, the crime levels are less. In many towns in Pennsylvania, it would be rare to NOT find a gun in a house - yet violent crime is relatively low. Criminals migrate to where they can find victims more easily - big cities, places where people cant protect themselves, etc.

All that is stated above are facts, not emotional statements from someone with absolutely no knowledge of crime or weaponry.

But what about the "wide availability of automatic assault weapons?" Didn't you pick up a half-dozen of them when they were on clearance at WalMart like every other gun nut who turns into a killing machine when you place a firearm in their hands?

[knight0334]

But what about the "wide availability of automatic assault weapons?" Didn't you pick up a half-dozen of them when they were on clearance at WalMart like every other gun nut who turns into a killing machine when you place a firearm in their hands?

I sure did, they are next to my kid's bed. ...right beside the magical armor piercing bullets, grenades, and airliner shooting 50cal rifle.

[TravisBickle]

Well I deleted my email that I sent them, so I can't post it up. They did call me today to verify that I wrote it. I missed the call so I called back, leaving a message. Hopefully that'll suffice.