Quote:

---

When I read about the open letter that former Marine Joshua Boston sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein regarding his gun rights, I couldn't help but feel temporarily ashamed of also sharing the title of former Marine. Boston defiantly refuses to register his guns even if laws are passed requiring him to do so. In this refusal, he comes off as tone-deaf and unsympathetic to the victims of mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, and so many other places. His ranting letter is paranoid exhibition of one concerned not with preventing the deaths of more innocents, but of maintaining his rights to own devices of war. I want to set the record straight, not all Marines are so insensitive to the recent tragedies, or ignorant about the need for arms restrictions.
I served in Afghanistan as a Marine, exiting the service as a Sergeant in 2008 to enter college. My experiences in the Marine Corps of course led me to train with semi and fully automatic weapons, and yet, I have no desire to own these weapons now that I am out of the service. I can't see why any civilian needs semi-automatic, high-capacity weapons designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible, and I support a ban of future sales in addition to a retroactive ban that would force Joshua Boston to relinquish his weapons.

Boston's attitude towards authority is frankly disgusting and his open letter is wrong in both its assumptions about why the gun-control debate has become heated, and the reasons why we should care about his opinions at all. It implies that because he served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine, that he can choose which laws to obey while at home. This is of course, incorrect, and gives other veterans a bad name. Regardless of his personal beliefs about gun-control, Boston should obey the law, or stop using the title of Marine veteran so proudly.

Perhaps my criticism of Boston seems harsh. This is as intended, for in speaking out as he did, Boston revealed a profound ignorance to the pain suffered in Newtown. The survivors lives will never be the same, and the reason for that is because a deranged individual had access to a weapon that shouldn't be accessible by the general populace. I speak out also because, as a former Marine Sergeant, I abhor any action that tarnishes the name of the Marine Corps. Boston has done that with his letter, and he should apologize to every veteran who obeys the law in good faith and intends to do so in the future. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-907167?hpt=hp_t2

---

Quote:

---

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have launched what they hope will mark a new era in the battle over gun rights in America.

On the second anniversary of a mass shooting in Arizona that wounded Giffords and killed six others, the couple launched a political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, along with a website calling for contributions to help "encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership."

In an op-ed in USA Today, the two make their goal clear: to counter the influence of the gun lobby.

"Special interests purporting to represent gun owners but really advancing the interests of an ideological fringe have used big money and influence to cow Congress into submission," they write.

"Rather than working to find the balance between our rights and the regulation of a dangerous product, these groups have cast simple protections for our communities as existential threats to individual liberties. Rather than conducting a dialogue, they threaten those who divert from their orthodoxy with political extinction."

Emphasizing that they support the Second Amendment and own two guns themselves, Giffords and Kelly call for "laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence."

"Until now, the gun lobby's political contributions, advertising and lobbying have dwarfed spending from anti-gun violence groups. No longer. With Americans for Responsible Solutions engaging millions of people about ways to reduce gun violence and funding political activity nationwide, legislators will no longer have reason to fear the gun lobby."

Kelly, a former captain in the U.S. Navy and NASA astronaut, also responded publicly in the wake of the Newtown shootings.

On his Facebook page, he took on the National Rifle Association -- the central pro-gun rights lobby -- after a news conference by a top NRA official about the Newtown tragedy triggered widespread anger.

Kelly wrote that the NRA's response was "defiant and delayed," and that the organization "chose narrow partisan concerns over the safety of our families and communities."

LaPierre made clear his group believes that more guns, not fewer, are necessary for security. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.

Kelly said he knows from personal experience that that's not the case.

The day Jared Loughner shot Giffords and 18 other people at a public event in Tucson, there was such a "good guy," Kelly argued in an interview with ABC.

A man came out "of the store next door and nearly shot the man who took down Jared Loughner," Kelly said. "The one who eventually wrestled (Loughner) to the ground was almost killed himself by a good guy with a gun, so I don't really buy that argument."

We have experienced too much death and hurt to remain idle. Our response to the Newtown massacre must consist of more than regret, sorrow and condolence. The children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and all victims of gun violence deserve fellow citizens and leaders who have the will to prevent gun violence in the future." More at http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/us/giffords-website/index.html?hpt=hp_bn
1]
Their website is at http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/ . I just contributed. The enemy is the NRA, which works for gun manufacturers and nobody else; the enemy is not decent people who own guns.

Tit for tat got us where we are today. If we want to be grownups, we need to resist the ugliness. If we each did, this would be a better reflection on Firefly and a more welcome place. I will try.