Hi.
Short diary here--just wanted to post a letter that I wrote to a Rockville, Maryland gun dealer who yesterday bowed to pressure from the NRA and other death cults to not sell this new "smart gun". Disclaimer: I'm not a gun owner, I support strong, sensible regulation (after all, ALL of our constitutional rights are subject to regulation) but I think that my email should be reasonable to [reasonable] 2nd amendment advocates as well.
2nd disclaimer: I'm not actually a new poster here---having some problems with my regular account that I'm trying to sort out but wanted to post this while it was still relevant.
The letter follows below the stylized Al Jazeera logo (it does remind me of the Al Jazeera logo)
Dear Mr. R*--
As a Marylander and a long time resident of Montgomery County (although I've since moved away), I'm very disturbed at your decision to cave in to the pressures of some of the most fringe lunatics of the gun rights lobby.
I'm not a gun owner--now I live in Europe where that would be difficult anyway. But while I understand your concern for your company, your decision to abandon your own business decisions because of militant (terrorist) threats only strengthens the most radical, fringe groups of people who, contrary to the spirit of the second amendment and the security of this country, only want to use their guns to be able to threaten and kill people. These are the people who believe that Sandy Hook is a government plot, that Jews, Blacks and Latinos are better off dead than in this country, that the only acceptable world is one where paranoia runs free and vigilante justice is the only acceptable definition of masculinity. By catering to the demands of these people, you are by definition letting terrorists win.
Fortunately, the stronger Maryland laws are going to continue to marginaiize these kinds of insane people and I hope that eventually their voices will not be heard anymore, so you will once again be free to make your own business decisions and hopefully be able to comfortably support yourself and your family., In the meantime, the right thing to do is to spit in their faces and go with your original, and quite applaudable, decision to sell some of these safer firearms.
All the best,
* took the guy's last name out. It's public knowledge, but it's probably not necessary (as I didn't include my name either!)
9:58 AM PT: You all might want a link to the story, too: Washington Post
11:09 AM PT: Oops--didn't see the original diary from yesterday. Here's the link: Diary
Sun May 04, 2014 at 2:48 PM PT: I actually got a really nice response from the guy. Not going to post it here--and while he is very much on the opposite site of the spectrum from me, he reiterated that while he still stands by his initial decision to make this new gun available, he felt that "principles will not pay my employees salary, rebuild a burned down shop, or put food on the table." An honest response--and an appreciated one--as much as I disagree with much of what he stands for on the 2nd amendment issue.