ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991                   TAG: 9104120930
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WILLIAM D. STUMP II
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GUN LAWS SHIFT POWER TO CRIMINALS

RESPONDING to my Feb. 12 Commentary Page article, "Firearms protect freedom," Charles L. Stumpp (letter, Feb. 19) said that while I see the flag flying over a stack of weapons, he sees it flying over a ballot box.

I do see the flag flying over an armed citizenry, and I do not consider the ballot box adequate protection against government encroachment upon personal rights. My last ballot had only one candidate for Congress, and Sen. Warner had no major party opposition. I didn't find that very comforting.

I believe I have better company in my point of view than Mr. Stumpp does. Consider the words of Patrick Henry: "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined."

Thomas Jefferson could be arrested under current law for his words in reference to Shays' Rebellion: "God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion . . . And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms . . . The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Mr. Stumpp does have plenty of company in his support for gun prohibition, among them Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, whose officers beat a suspect senseless on the street. Among the nation's police chiefs, Gates is a leading proponent of gun prohibition.

Honest citizens today have abdicated their right to use force in self-defense. Modern Americans are taught to passively suffer any injury. Then the police can collect their bodies and maybe prosecute their assailants.

This philosophy is in direct contradiction to Thomas Paine's observations in his "Thoughts on Defensive War" (1775): "The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace."

It is no wonder that cities like New York and the District of Columbia have such a problem with crime. These cities have shifted the "balance of power" greatly in favor of the criminal. This is because the criminal disregards all laws and the honest man, who obeys the city's gun laws, is helpless before him. This must greatly encourage all unscrupulous persons.

\ William D. Stump II, a Radford native, is a Marine sergeant with the Second Combat Engineer Battalion, due back from the Persian Gulf April 15. 


 by CNB