Inspired by Robb Allen at Sharp As A Marble, I just sent this email to my congressman, and I will be sending very similar emails to my senators:

The Honorable Phil Gingrey, MD
Washington, DC

Dr. Gingrey:

The recent shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school was a horrific event of evil performed by a deranged individual. It is an emotional event for the entire country and there seems to be a cry for someone to ‘do something’. As a father of two, this has been especially painful for me.

However, the actions of this individual belong to him and him alone. The calls for “gun control” or a new “assault weapons ban” are an emotional response that ends up placing the blame for this event on the estimated 80,000,000 gun owners in the US. Connecticut already has the 5th most restrictive gun laws in the states as well as an AWB in place and yet this did not prevent anything. Columbine happened during the original AWB as well. This clearly indicates that bans on cosmetic features has no effect on those who wish to harm others. Punishing the innocent did nothing to stop these monsters, punishing us harder will have the same effect – none;

Any new gun control restrictions will only turn millions upon millions of law abiding citizens into overnight felons and yet events like these will not be stopped. Criminals who do not care about the death of others will not be dissuaded by a fear of a felony charge by having a magazine of inappropriate size or a folding stock.

There is nothing wrong with calling for a conversation on the violence in our nation. Gun owners such as myself tend to be some of the most law abiding citizens in the States and we’re always discussing what can be done to lower the frequency of such tragedies. However, blaming the tool used is not an appropriate response and I ask that you protect the rights of every American citizen by refraining from calling for further gun control which has been proven time and time again to be ineffective in stopping crime and in fact only increase crime by creating more and more criminals.

Your record on this issue means we can count on you to be a voice of reason, not emotion. Please do what you can to make sure calmer and more reasoned thought prevails. Your response is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxx

I urge you to do the same, and follow up next week with a phone call. If your representative will be in the area for the holidays, schedule an office visit.

We will only get the chance to give our side of the issue once.