I begin by referring to your Feb. 1 Readers Write article by Lois Shaffer, “A Mother’s Plea For Gun Control” about her daughter being murdered when she walked into her home which was being burglarized by two teenagers. She was shot with a firearm which the teenagers allegedly acquired from other burglaries.
I have been on this subject before. I will add this incident to Newtown and Columbine. Not one word has been spoken about incidents such as these that were committed with non-assault weapons.
Again, I want to make the point that these were non-secured weapons. It would be a simple matter to have devices available [ or maybe call them gisms or gizms (gismos or gizmos-the Spanish version) ( a free English-Spanish lesson)] that would fold around the magazine and trigger area and be locked.
They would be very difficult to remove without a key or combination such as attempting to remove a ‘club’ from the steering wheel of a motor vehicle. Perhaps a person would come to their senses from the effort of attempting to do so.
Having firearms secured in this manner at all times would be responsible gun ownership. This kind of tamper-proof device would not be an appreciable expense.
I have mentioned this before in various media and directly to some of my elected officials.
At this point, I just don’t know what else to do to jar those we entrust with creating reasonable laws out of their nerdy lethargy so that they see the reality.
It would not entirely solve the problem but the incidents mentioned above could most likely have been prevented. We could also have government spot checkers that would randomly call on gun owners and say “let me see your registered weapons, now!”
The penalty could be stiff for non-compliance and one would never know when the call might come. After all, people’s lives depend on it.
Charles Samek
Mineola
