Pot Calling The Kettle Black

Under normal circumstances I would not have even given this editorial a second look but it does address an issue I have been covering over the last couple of weeks. In Montville, Connecticut the mayor, Joseph Jaskiewicz, along with chief warden of the Milo Light Nature Preserve John Dufrat, attempted to get an ordinance passed in their town to regulate target shooting and I do believe they had the right motives when they began this venture.

If you follow this link, which is an announcement by the major that he is planning to withdraw the ordinance at the next town council meeting, you will also find all the other links pertaining to the history of this story.

The Norwich Bulletin today offered an editorial about the withdrawing of the ordinance. What is amusing about the editorial is the comment made early on calling those opposed to the mayor’s ordinance as “uninformed”. Here’s the opening statement.

Time remains for the Montville Town Council to act responsibly and not be buffaloed by the uninformed in the matter of target shooting.

When you read down through the editorial it becomes very clear that the editor is perhaps the one uninformed and is attempting to buffalo the public into believing something that isn’t true.

The editor must believe that because so many residents of Montville showed up to voice opposition to the proposed ordinance that they must be uninformed and are trying to change the mind of the town council . Last I checked, that’s how a so-called democracy worked.

I think if the editor were to actually read the ordinance and ask someone not emotionally bent on ridding the world of guns, what the ordinance says, they would be told the truth. The ordinance as written, gives a blanket ban on the discharging of a weapon – including all those they went on to list beyond a gun.

The ordinance doesn’t address target shooting. It bans shooting a weapon. How can a person defend themselves ever if they cannot ever discharge a weapon in self defense?

I also believe that if the editor got out from behind the big desk for a moment, they would discover that the good citizens of Montville ARE interested in public safety. What they are not interested in is two people taking away their ability to defend themselves.

Re-write the ordinance and present it in a different fashion that regulates an idiot target practicing on Main Street and the people will line up to sign on.

Tom Remington