Post Office

Mike Zigler was way off! America needs more gun laws
   Your lack of letters to the editor in April�s issue prompted a necessary and rational retort to Mr. Zigler�s irrational and distorted views on guns [�The greatest deterrent,� April]. Au contrere Mr. Zigler, the lack of gun laws makes it easier for killers to commit the sort of mass slaughter that happened at Virginia Tech. We have made it extraordinarily easy for most any nut in this country to get powerful weapons that make Virginia Tech shootings possible. Can any logical individual not see that with 200 million firearms in our nation that they are a big part of a huge problem? 
   The recent event is evidence that violence of this extent doesn�t happen anywhere else in the developed world. In Canada, France, Japan and Great Britain, they sensibly limit gun ownership!
   Your distorted mathematics need both shifting and a sore look at the facts and truth. In 2001, guns killed 11,348 in the United States and firearms killed only six in New Zealand, 56 in Japan, 96 in Great Britain and 168 in Canada. Gun advocates think if guns were present in the home, robbers would be shot dead in their tracks. However, statistics show the complete opposite � gun owners wound or kill more people in their own family and friends with �hidden� guns and are impossible to reach in a huge percentage of the usual surprise attacks. 
   Personally having been robbed years ago, the robber took my lone gun and I�m he sure used it in his subsequent assault!
   Firearms, and especially powerful arms, obviously make our precious nation a violent and dangerous place in which to live. Phony arguments, stating that certain cities persist having violent crime and �tough� gun laws, ignore the simple fact that these cities are connected to the rest of the country via roads and highways, and easily slipped into. 
   As to the inanity of your supposed constitutional rights � does the mere purchase of a gun immediately make an individual part of a regulated militia? What about responsibility, accountability and the rights of the victims?
   Since Columbine, it is even easier for people to obtain deadly weapons. Mr. Zigler�s warped notion that gun ownership is one of the best deterrents to crime and potential tyranny is the worst extrapolation of a fallacious premise. For too many people, guns have become a religion � a false substitute security blanket. 
   But yet I remember another �religious� statement vowing that �if we live by the sword, we�ll die by the sword.�
   Mr. Zigler, one can only hope that a dreadful event or accident with a useless firearm will not strike one of your loved ones dead. It makes that tragedy more plausible because most �home guns� are supposedly hidden, locked or secured �safely� in a victim�s home!
Tom Luscher
Henderson

Lawmakers who sign the �pledge� deserve as much attention as those who don�t sign
   Chuck Muth deserves a pat on the back. His piece on those who have and who have not signed the pledge to not raise taxes surfaces an issue that certainly needs to be addressed [�Long live the pledge,� April].
   Politicians who run for office always promote that they will look out for the best interests of their constituents. However, they never do as they say. When these hucksters pursue a new program in the name of the greater good of their state, they 99 percent of the time have other motives and a lame spin story to hide that motive.
   When their program or agenda doesn�t see the light of day, new taxes are required to keep it alive. So, we see quarter-of-a-cent taxes proposed and other figures that seem so small in the grand scheme of the things. The result is these small figures convince the ignorant general public to say, �Well, what�s a quarter of a percent?�
   All we need are public officials who will work within their means. If another program is necessary, look within the budget. There�s more than likely something that certainly can be cut.
   I enjoy your magazine because it preaches what the masses ignore. While heavy on content and opinions, your publication certainly needs to be read. Unfortunately, I can guarantee the masses could care less about anything outside your Roving Eye section and cover image.
Reginald Docker
Kansas City

I urge you to learn more about Scientology
   Scientology isn�t about aliens [�Operation: mindcrime,� April]. 
   If you bother to read any Christian Science literature, you would understand things better. There is a church right here in Las Vegas. I urge you to pay a visit and see for yourself. Thank you for listening.
Zeke 
Henderson