Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 15:30:21 -0800 (PST) From: "Richard L. Hartman" To: Chris Obear Subject: Re: Another nasty Boston Herald editorial > Sen. Bob Dole... > > What else can you call his boot-licking letter to the National Rifle > Association, promising to work for repeal of the ban on assault-style > weapons contained in last year's crime bill? In response to this editorial in the Boston Herald, I faxed the following reply. Regular readers will recognize its similarity to the one sent to the NY Times on the same subject. Copy/plagerize at will. To: The Boston Herald Voice 617-426-3000 Fax 617-542-1315 From: Richard L. Hartman Spokane WA xxx-xxx-xxxx Voice xxx-xxx-xxxx Fax Date: 27 March 1995 Subject: Polite Rebuttal: "More Unneeded Pandering" I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I am not a "gun nut." I am none of the things that the media normally associates with the firearm rights issue. But I must take exception to your recent editorial concerning Mr. Dole's letter. Your assertion regarding "three-quarters of the American people" is incorrect. If "three-quarters" of the people approved of the Rifle and Magazine Ban, Tom Foley - my former Representative - would not have been defeated last November. In fact, 93% of defeated incumbents voted for the ban. No other issue correlated so highly, or more clearly defines the opinion of the "American people" to whom you refer. Regarding "Every law enforcement agency and association," have you polled actual street cops? Not Police Chiefs, but the actual "...officers who protect..." out on the street? I have, and not one favors the ban. This includes officers in my hometown, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and everywhere else I have traveled in recent months. It even includes members of the White House Secret Service, the Capitol Police, and the Supreme Court Police - all of whom I spoke with when in Washington DC last January. None of them believe the ban will reduce crime - not one. As for "the possible effectiveness of the weapons ban," consider this: We tried a Constitutional Amendment against liquor, and presently have a total ban on cocaine. The result? Increased crime; huge, untaxed, underground economies; and plenty of illegal goods available to whomever wants them. Bans sound good in theory, but fail in practice - usually with tragic results. Your own editorial even admits the ban is "not likely to make a major dent in violent crime." The American people know this, and Mr. Dole is taking that knowledge into account. Mr. Dole makes his share of mistakes, and I differ with him on many issues. But he's absolutely correct about the Rifle and Magazine Ban. Far from "bootlicking" the NRA, Mr. Dole is tailoring his position to please the vast majority of your "American people" - who knew that the Ban was wrong, voted accordingly in 1994, and are prepared to vote that way again in 1996.