A Letter To Senator Rick Scott

 I am certain that the party on the other side of the aisle will attempt to not let the crisis of the Boulder, Colorado shooting go to waste.

They will attempt, again, to punish the innocent and further restrict the everyday citizen's ability to obtain, own and carry a firearm.

I think it's especially important to write to you about this because, as Governor, you caved to this attitude and signed a bill into law which punished the innocent and further restricted the everyday citizen's ability to obtain, own and carry a firearm after Parkland.

I didn't want that when you were Governor, and I don't want it now that you're a Senator.

First and foremost, I did nothing wrong.  I murdered no one.  My firearms came nowhere near the site of the murders.  How will punishing me help?

Secondly, the shooter was forbidden to possess a firearm due to their being a felon.  By federal law they aren't allowed to purchase, own or possess a firearm; regardless of type.  It doesn't matter if it was a single shot shotgun or a rifle with every feature known to cause dehydration from pants wetting in the media.  Yet that law was broken and someone who was forbidden to have a gun got one anyway.

I think I'm more interested in seeing where he got that gun and if the person selling it knew he was a felon.

I'd be fascinated to learn how he obtained this firearm without undergoing the background check that Colorado mandates by law.  I want to know why both he and the seller ignored this law.

There, now you have someone who actually did something to punish and without even passing any new laws!

But there's something that's very important about several of these mass shootings that extremely alarming if we start banning the firearms which are most useful to a citizen who needs them.

The amount of time that the citizen is on their own while the police dawdle at the perimeter of the crime while the criminal is slaughtering the innocent.

In Boulder it was more than 50 minutes from the first shot to the suspect being brought out in handcuffs.  It was ten minutes from the first shot before police arrived on scene.  It was another 40 minutes before the police entered the supermarket to subdue the suspect.

Without the means to defend ourselves until the police arrive, we're at the non-existent mercy of those who would commit evil upon us.

You should be familiar with both the Pulse Nightclub shooting and Parkland because they happened in our state.  In addition to the police dithering outside, these were places where the law-abiding were prohibited from possessing a means to defend themselves.

It's counterintuitive, but the solution isn't more restrictions on the types of firearms allowed the citizen, but fewer restrictions.  Fewer restrictions also has the benefit of being in accord with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It's been said by people smarter than me that, given the gigantic number of firearms and huge population of owners, if the weapons that Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer most wish to ban were a problem; not even the most ardent supporter of the 2nd amendment would be able to deny it.

But these guns and their owners are not a problem, despite a well organized attempt to make these rare occurrences seem commonplace.  They are not!  It's their very rarity which make them stand prominently in the public eye.

Don't fall for the propaganda.