Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/704025
Ithappeneda erSandyHook.Ithappened a er San Bernardino and Orlando. It hap- pened last week a er Dallas. Wheneveraspoiledyoung nut job, wannabe Islamic terror- ist or disturbed cop-hater goes on a mass killing spree, liber- als and their choir members in the mainstream media can be counted on to react in the same ignorant, knee-jerky way. It was the gun's fault. It doesn't matter if the weapon was a handgun, an assault weapon look-alike or a deer rifle. It's never the evil or insane individual who was re- sponsible for the slaughter of innocents. It was the gun. Gun control is always the liberals' off-the-shelf solution for ending mass murders, the deadly gang wars in Chicago and suicides. For decades they have demanded stricter gun laws or dreamed of outlawing guns altogether. Liberals hate everything about guns (unless their body guards are packing them) and don't trust ordinary people to own them or use them. They'll never understand why our Constitution protects individual gun ownership. (Hint: it's not to protect our right to hunt squirrels.) Liberals like Hillary Clinton and President Obama would throw the Second Amendment overboard in a Washington minute if they could. What anti-gun nuts have turned to lately in their fight against gun violence and mass killings is the idea of "ammo control." Restricting the size of magazines or the number of cartridges a pistol or rifle can hold is the liberals' latest "magic bullet." A liberal friend of mine re- cently tried to persuade me that ammo control was a good idea. "OK," I said, "let's accept your premise. Let's say we re- strict my shotgun's capacity to just three shells. "If I went into a movie the- ater to kill people, how many times do you think I could re- load before someone could stop me? Three? Four? "Therefore, in effect you're telling me it's OK for some- one to be able to kill nine or 12 people, but no more. You're not doing anything to prevent mass murders. "All you're doing is putting a limit on the number of dead. So killing 30 people is not OK, but killing 12 is? Would you like to choose the 12 people?" He didn't answer. Gun control. Ammo control. Knife control. Bomb control. Rock control. They won't stop people kill- ing each other in ones, twos or dozens. They won't stop the gang murders in the big cities. Murder rates in 20 cities like Chicago and Baltimore and L.A., where young black males in gangs murder each other every weekend, have spiked recently. But gang control, not gun control, is what's needed in those dangerous urban places, which account for about half of the country's annual homicide total. Despite all the media and political attention given to the killing of six cops in Dallas and the killings of black men by cops in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, Americans are not murdering each other to- day as much as they used to. The rate of homicides per 100,000 Americans fell al- most by half between 1993 and 2013, from 7.0 to 3.6. Mean- while, during that same period the number of guns owned per capita went from .95 to 1.45. No one really knows for sure, but America has an es- timated 350 million guns within its borders. About 12,000 of those weap- ons on average are now used in homicides each year —— down from 18,000 in 1993. According to my calculator, that means about .99996571 percent of the guns in Ameri- ca's collection will not murder a single person this year. Twelve thousand dead is still too many. But controlling guns won't bring down that toll. Controlling the humans who pull their triggers will. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan It's not the gun's fault Cartoonist's take Sources say a 510-foot rep- lica of Noah's Ark is scheduled to open soon in Williamstown, Kentucky. Alleged to cost over a mil- lion bucks, an atheist group call- ing themselves the Tri-state Free- thinkers are not enamored with the venture and spokesman Jim Helton states, "Basically this boat is a church raising scien- tifically illiterate children and lying to them about science." Those who side with the story of Noah's Ark proponents — who believe God created every- thing about 6,000 years ago in- cluding dinosaurs — should read Mark Twain's remarks about the Ark and how many species of flies and ants would have to be rounded up by Noah to complete his "two of every- thing" assignment, let alone feed all the animals during the long trip. ••• Writing recently of the ben- efits of, and my experiences with, the wonderful world of goats, I was surprised to learn of one Dr. John Brin- kley who once fraudulently claimed to be a medical doc- tor. He became known as the "goat-gland doctor" af- ter he achieved national fame and international notori- ety through the transplanta- tion of goat testicles into hu- mans and initially proclaim- ing this procedure as a means of curing male impotence. He operated clinics and hospi- tals in several states and was able to continue his activi- ties for almost two decades. Eventually he was stripped of his license to practice medi- cine. At the height of his ca- reer he had amassed millions of dollars; yet he died sick and nearly penniless, as a result of the large number of malprac- tice, wrongful death and fraud suits brought against him. Regarding goat testicle transplants, I was going to add, "Kids, don't try this at home," but decided not to. ••• A few years ago, sources say Ivana Trump went to lunch at Altesi Ristorante, on the Up- per East Side. She brought Ti- ger, her Yorkshire terrier, with her. When Patricia Marx, a New Yorker staff writer, present at the time and incensed at the in- cident spoke to the restaurant's owner, she learned that Trump had presented a card identify- ing Tiger as an "emotional-sup- port animal." Such a card, he said, allows pet owners to take their animals everywhere. ••• Sometime back, after receiv- ing a rebuke from a reader re- garding my "mission" to have the new county courthouse named after the late Senator Clair Engle, I promised to re- view his attached article, to- taling 129 pages, to consider if Clair was indeed guilty of causing the Trinity River to lose its water. However, it is difficult for one to read via an attachment of such length, and yet being too cheap to down- load the article in its entirety. That said, I rifled through his attachment and came to the conclusion that a politi- cian, despite being revered by the majority of his constitu- ents, cannot please everyone all the time. One county's gain may be another county's loss, and I stand by my estimate of Senator Engle as being a fine fellow who was destined for even higher office before being felled by a brain tumor. Regarding alleged wrong doings, you may recall Mark Anthony's remark regarding the death of Julius Caesar: "The evil that men do lives af- ter them; the good is oft in- terred with their bones." This may be a little over the top, but you get the idea. ••• I am proudly in receipt of a faxed form indicating that I am being "considered for in- clusion into the 2016 Who's Who in the executives and pro- fessionals Honors Edition. This recognition is a tribute to a lifetime of achievement re- served for only those who fit specific criteria to be classified as having 'Expert' status in their field.'" The form further states "there is no way to buy into the registry." Uh huh. ••• Observing young Travis Doll- ing going to work across the street early Tuesday morning, I caught a bit of sunshine re- flected off the "male pattern baldness" on the top rear of his head. He may not be aware of this, and I don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I know it can be a concern to men, particularly young men. Today, influenced by pro basket- ball players, young men, facing a receding hairline, may elect to have their head shaved, but we both know they would prefer to regress to being hairy apes if given half the chance. However, a young man can be consoled by their girlfriends or wives who will claim, with a straight face, that a) they like the shaved head macho image or b) that they find the bald spot on top "cute." ••• The Tuesday columnist de- voted a full column to his favorite target, "Emperor Obama," plus his assertion that the failure of Trump Uni- versity is countered nicely and therefore excused by Bill Clin- ton being forced to resign as honorary chairman of Laure- ate Education, a for-profit col- lege company. The revelation that a former U.S. President was out to enrich himself to a great extent is nothing new, any executive is going to trade on his previous status. That is the way of our society that enriches the coffers of any- one with clout. But what the columnist continues to do is evade the NRA mandate that every citizen should be able to possess multiple chamber weapons capable of killing and maiming hundreds of other citizens in one fell swoop. With this caveat, the "right to bear arms" falls on deaf ears. ••• A blonde arrived at the emergency room with the tip of her finger blown off. The doctors asked how it happened and she said she was trying to kill herself. She explained that she first pointed the gun at her chest, but realized with all the money she had invested in it she didn't want to damage it. Then she put the gun in her mouth, but realized she had spent thousands on braces and didn't want to ruin her smile. So finally she put the gun to her ear, but realized it would probably be very loud so she put her finger in her other ear. Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Replica of Noah's Ark raises hackles, questions Despite all the media and political attention given to the killing of six cops in Dallas and the killings of black men by cops in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, Americans are not murdering each other today as much as they used to. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Lovethesestories.Withoutlaw enforcement where would we be? I for one certainly don't want to find out. Karen Simonsen Ellison: On local residents thanking law enforcement for their service The police need to make appearances at all the schools, teach the kids they are people, with families, just like them. Larry Fine: On local residents thanking law en- forcement for their service to the community Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials Robert Minch By Michael Reagan OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 15, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6