Dear Editor,

It’s started again. A push to ban so-called assault weapons. Blame the object, not society; however, I am amazed at the absolute stupidity of the mass media, pertaining to firearms. The “assault weapons” misnomer was invented by them and the politicians. Before these ‘highly regarded in their own minds’ purveyors of ‘the facts’, an assault rifle was a military issue weapon capable of selective fire, that is either semiautomatic of fully automatic. Simply stated, a private citizen cannot own a fully automatic firearm legally because of a Federal Law enacted back in 1934 when the Chicago gangs used submachine guns to commit murders. However, the ignorance of the Media doesn’t stop there.

“Clips’ and ‘bullets’ are used in place of the proper terms, magazines and cartridges. A bullet is inert; it is part of a cartridge. A “clip” is only used in rifles like the M1 Garand of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ genre. Why is this so important? Because it proves to me that the Media and our elected officials in Washington know nothing and prefer to know nothing about firearms and the millions of us that legally own them. Of course, by today’s standards, that makes them experts because of their standing in our nation.

The Media and politicians also do not know, or do not care why the Second Amendment was included in our Bill of Rights. By now, the writer is well aware of the attitude, on the part of some, in regards to pro gun advocates. Therefore, I won’t define it here. James Madison, in the 46th letter as found in “The Federalist” papers explains the reason for the Second Amendment. He was one of the main patriots involved in crafting our Bill of Rights. This information is easily found online on the Internet, The Internet can be a good source of information. It is a product of our times. As proof of this, legislation is everywhere, enacting the ‘new’ moral code against objects but not against the person.

Personal responsibility is becoming obsolete replaced by the government ‘we will take care of you’ philosophy. It is no wonder to me, that murder of innocent children and all types of killings, robberies, home invasions, and other signs of moral decay have become commonplace. It is no wonder to me that the a person is no longer responsible for his (her) action. It is no wonder to me that, since we are not responsible for our actions, that something else must be blamed. It is no wonder to me that objects (firearms) have become the culprits to blame for our new direction in morality. After all, that is the direction that the Media and our elected officials are taking us.

Now more than anytime in our lifetime, we need to contact our Senators and Congressmen, and ask them to think before signing away our Second amendment rights.

Keith R Shirley

Leon, W.Va.