Guns don't kill, people do

Editor,

I would like to respond to the article, in the Opinion section of the Jan. 2 Missoulian by Jenny Price. Our second amendment is once again under attack by people who desperately need to blame someone or something for a senseless act of violence. Ms. Price calls it gun violence, but in reality it is people violence.

Let's examine Ms. Price's first paragraph:

1. She says a woman was asked to move out of her daughter's home.

2. She purchased a handgun. She passed a background check and a safety check. She practiced.

3. She killed her daughter and her daughter's fiance, Ms. Price's brother.

Now who or what is to blame? Is it the gun? No, a gun is an inanimate object that normally requires a person to pick it up, load it, cock it, point it and pull the trigger.

The manufacturer? No, they may have produced the gun, but they have no control over it once a competent person passes all the safety checks. So the only one left to blame is the person that pulled the trigger, period.

No amount of legislation is going to stop gun violence. All it will do is stop responsible gun owners from owning guns. The people bent on committing a violent crime will still find a way. People were killing other people long before guns were invented.

I also think that laws made in Washington or Los Angeles may or may not apply in rural America. Mentalities, social stigmas and accepted uses for firearms differ from block to block, city to city and state to state. What is needed in a city of over a million is not necessarily what is needed in a rural community.

As to the comment that a Glock is designed to kill, so is a knife, a baseball bat, a brick, a rifle, shotgun or anything else that can be grabbed in a fit of rage, or in the middle of committing a crime, or even in self-defense. Do we need to ban, sue or punish the manufactures of each of these weapons of opportunity?

I will not begin to argue on the statistics that are quoted. Everyone knows that statistics can be manipulated to bolster the position of the person quoting them.

So in closing, I guess my point is that no amount of legislation, law or bans will stop violence from happening. What we need is to apply the blame to the ones committing the crimes. We need to enforce punishments without plea bargains, time off for good behavior or stays of execution. But most importantly the public has to except responsibility and be held accountable for their own actions.

Wade Shepard

Charlo