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2. Rush Limbaugh is the most heard radio talk show host in America. More than 20 million Americans hear him every day. Nobody comes even close.
3. Almost 50 percent of Americans now get some type of government help, ranging from food stamps to unemployment benefits to disability pension, etc. Why should they vote for anybody else except Obama? The president got 52.4 percent of the general vote, so you know where the votes came from. Had I been one of them, I would have also voted for him.
4. For every dollar this government spends, 40 cents is borrowed. This is no different from your own house budget. How long you can do it depends upon how smart are you.
5. We have more than $16 trillion in national debt that will increase to $22 trillion by the time Obama leaves office. Take your calculator and calculate how much you owe personally. I don’t want to scare you.
6. Five percent of the population pays almost 70 percent of the total taxes in this country. Fifty percent pays no tax at all.
Just to let you know, I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am simply a concerned citizen of this great country that gave me opportunities to be something.
Balwant Ahluwalia
Boonsboro
Some misinformation about guns needs clarification
To the editor:
I feel obliged to try to correct a great deal of misinformation regarding gun control and protecting schoolchildren that I have seen in this newspaper and other media sources since the Newtown, Conn., tragedy.
First, the gun used was not an “automatic” weapon. It was a semiautomatic rifle similar to an AR-15 that has been for sale to the public for 50 years.
Despite the scary but meaningless term “assault rifle” that the media often uses, the AR-15 — or any rifle — is rarely used in crime. Based on the latest FBI data, in 2011 (the most recent year for which data is available) you were 54 percent more likely to be killed with a hammer or club, and more than twice as likely to be killed by someone’s hands, fist or feet, than you were to be killed by any kind of rifle.
While the Brady “assault weapons” ban expired in 2004, and the number of guns per capita in the hands of private citizens went up roughly 43 percent from 2004 to 2011, the violent crime rate in 2011 was 17 percent lower than in 2004.
To those who turn almost apoplectic over the idea of armed citizens or police “putting guns in our schools,” realize that there have been armed police stationed in Washington County Public Schools for at least the last five years and in Frederick County Public Schools for more than 12 years. President Clinton provided “COPS in School” grant funding that helped Frederick County schools hire officers.
Finally, please realize that the Second Amendment is not about hunting or sport shooting. Our wise and scholarly Founding Fathers had even more compelling reasons why citizens should be armed as well as the government. Please, I ask you to read their words and learn why. Do you honestly believe that today’s politicians of either party are more wise?
Steve Bell
Hagerstown
Quick response to emergency is appreciated
To the editor:
3. Almost 50 percent of Americans now get some type of government help, ranging from food stamps to unemployment benefits to disability pension, etc. Why should they vote for anybody else except Obama? The president got 52.4 percent of the general vote, so you know where the votes came from. Had I been one of them, I would have also voted for him.
4. For every dollar this government spends, 40 cents is borrowed. This is no different from your own house budget. How long you can do it depends upon how smart are you.
5. We have more than $16 trillion in national debt that will increase to $22 trillion by the time Obama leaves office. Take your calculator and calculate how much you owe personally. I don’t want to scare you.
6. Five percent of the population pays almost 70 percent of the total taxes in this country. Fifty percent pays no tax at all.
Just to let you know, I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am simply a concerned citizen of this great country that gave me opportunities to be something.
Balwant Ahluwalia
Boonsboro
Some misinformation about guns needs clarification
To the editor:
I feel obliged to try to correct a great deal of misinformation regarding gun control and protecting schoolchildren that I have seen in this newspaper and other media sources since the Newtown, Conn., tragedy.
First, the gun used was not an “automatic” weapon. It was a semiautomatic rifle similar to an AR-15 that has been for sale to the public for 50 years.
Despite the scary but meaningless term “assault rifle” that the media often uses, the AR-15 — or any rifle — is rarely used in crime. Based on the latest FBI data, in 2011 (the most recent year for which data is available) you were 54 percent more likely to be killed with a hammer or club, and more than twice as likely to be killed by someone’s hands, fist or feet, than you were to be killed by any kind of rifle.
While the Brady “assault weapons” ban expired in 2004, and the number of guns per capita in the hands of private citizens went up roughly 43 percent from 2004 to 2011, the violent crime rate in 2011 was 17 percent lower than in 2004.
To those who turn almost apoplectic over the idea of armed citizens or police “putting guns in our schools,” realize that there have been armed police stationed in Washington County Public Schools for at least the last five years and in Frederick County Public Schools for more than 12 years. President Clinton provided “COPS in School” grant funding that helped Frederick County schools hire officers.
Finally, please realize that the Second Amendment is not about hunting or sport shooting. Our wise and scholarly Founding Fathers had even more compelling reasons why citizens should be armed as well as the government. Please, I ask you to read their words and learn why. Do you honestly believe that today’s politicians of either party are more wise?
Steve Bell
Hagerstown
Quick response to emergency is appreciated
To the editor: