---

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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993                   TAG: 9303150558
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

---

WHY RIDICULE GUN OWNERS?

WHAT WAS the purpose of your Feb. 24 editorial ("Post cards don't write; readers do") mocking the efforts of gun owners who apparently mailed you preprinted post cards? Did not these cards give you the opinion of the sender? Is the title of the page "Opinion" or "Creative Writing?"

Do you mean to imply that anyone stupid enough to oppose gun control could not possibly compose a coherent sentence by himself? Are gun ownership and intelligence mutually exclusive?

According to your editorial, the post cards all stated: "Why don't you tell it like it is? Quit portraying the NRA as some lobbying machine."

If you're tired of that line, here's another: Why don't you stop portraying gun owners as ugly, illiterate, ignorant fanatics who impede our progress toward a crime-free society? CLONNIE H. YEAROUT ROANOKE

---