In re: Signal article, “Supes approve gun-regulatory motions, enact new gun ordinances,” (Feb. 16).
News flash for our illustrious county Board of Supervisors: By definition, criminals do not obey laws!
In addition to that obvious fact our own 5th District Supervisior Kathryn Barger jumped on board this ridiculous piece of legislation that also vilifies and bans a weapon that I doubt has ever been used in a wounding or killing in L.A. County, let alone in her 5th District. And the topper, though, was Supervisor Janice Hahn who added: “These are giant bullets that are half-an-inch thick and really long,” during the Feb. 7 Board of Supervisors meeting.
I’m not quite sure how being “really long” fits into this particular argument but it does show the absolute ignorance of the people passing these useless laws when they obviously haven’t a clue about the subject/problem they are supposedly addressing in the legislation they write and pass. A Barret .50-caliber rifle has a 29-inch barrel, weighs 33 pounds (empty) and is 57 inches long. Not exactly something you shove in your waistband or hide under your coat! Did the supervisors give us a list of the times in the county where the perpetrator of a crime used a .50-caliber rifle to wound or kill someone? If a weapon isn’t actually used to wound or kill someone, its supposed “lethality” isn’t really an issue, now, is it?
California already has the most restrictive gun laws of any state and if the current crime stats in California in general and L.A. County in particular are any indication, all of those gun laws don’t seem to being doing real well. How about we try something that has a very good track record of reducing violent crime, like actually locking up the people committing those crimes?
You wanna get sick to your stomach and/or mad, look up the stats of recidivism of violent offenders in California and L.A. County and look up how many times their felonies with firearms have been pleaded down to a misdemeanor. Ask any deputy out here how often they have arrested a violent criminal who did not have a prior record of violent crimes.
Let’s start demanding that our elected leaders do their homework BEFORE wasting their time and our money on useless pieces of legislation meant only to appease equally ignorant people in their districts whose votes they depend on so heavily.
Rick Barker
Valencia
