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Errors in gun permits are very slight

Florida neglects gun threat Jan. 30, editorial 

In your paper's nearly hysterical tirade against Florida's concealed weapon permit laws, it was reported that a total of 1,750 concealed weapon permits were mistakenly issued to individuals with criminal records or other disqualifiers. That is 1,750 out of a total of 410,000 permits issued, which translates to less than one-half of 1 percent.

Granted, it is desirable that no one with a criminal record be issued a concealed weapon permit, but we do not live in a perfect world. I would challenge your editorial board to name one government agency or program, or any human endeavor for that matter, that can consistently claim a lower error rate.

Finally, and again using your reported numbers, there are 408,250 law-abiding, concealed carrying Floridians who have the means to defend themselves and their loved ones (and perhaps you and your loved ones as well) from an attack by an armed criminal. Frankly, I'm much more comforted by that thought than I am by the prospect that all I have to answer a criminal's armed assault is your paper's righteous indignation.

Jerry Shores, Pinellas Park

Stop the NRA

Thank you for your editorial concerning the insanity of Florida's so-called gun laws. I have said this before and I will say it until the people of this state rise up and assert themselves: It is way past time to break the stranglehold the NRA has on this state and this country.

If you are a criminal, a drug dealer, a terrorist or just some poor sap who feels less than whole without a firearm, then there is no better friend than the National Rifle Association. Too many people in Florida and elsewhere die because of the spineless, gutless wonders who would flip over backward like trained seals when Marion Hammer or some other NRA lobbyist tells them to (especially the recently departed Jeb Bush).

Thomas Sweeney, Winter Park

No real threat

Although I agree that criminals and people with criminal records should not be issued a concealed weapons permit and the Legislature should look into why this is happening, I hardly think that Floridians are under any kind of threat.

By your statistics of 410,000 permits and by the number of people who are in violation of those permits, simple math tells us that constitutes a whopping .0043 percent of those who have permits.

Again, I hardly call that a threat.

There will always be those who break laws. Please don't put the vast majority of those who obey the laws in the same category.

Paul Lukacs, Indian Rocks Beach

Two views on felons

Your editorial position on the issue of concealed weapons permits is 180 degrees from your position on the topic of restoring voter registration for "ex-felons." However, I think the issue remains the same: Namely, felons are felons no matter whether they have served their sentences or not.

All of your editorials on the voting issue suggested that those who have paid their debt to society are somehow reconciled with the state - and could be presumed to vote Democrat in large numbers.

Your editorial on Tuesday uses entirely different language to talk about convicted felons who have slipped through the loopholes in the system. It all comes down to whose ox is being gored, perhaps.

How about honestly reviewing the matter from a perspective of constitutional rights, instead of simply positioning your argument around your political and social preferences.

Jim Parker, Tampa

Antiwar protest merited prominence 

Thousands demand end to Iraq war in protest Jan. 28, story

I was utterly dismayed when I had to go to Page 13A to see your report on the antiwar demonstration in Washington, D.C. There were almost 100,000 people and you relegated it to Page 13A while you filled the front page with Gasparilla partying.

It would be well to for you to inform your readers that folks organized this peace march because they are serious about supporting our troops by bringing them home from Iraq. Enough American lives have been lost. Enough Iraqi lives have been lost. It's time to try diplomacy.

Mary Murray, St. Petersburg

This is democracy?

There is something happening in this country that troubles me. The majority of the people oppose the war in Iraq; a majority oppose the escalation of the war in Iraq. Congress opposes the war and the escalation (with more Republicans voicing their opposition every day). The Iraqi people oppose the war and the escalation.

Given the opposition, if one man can force a nation to fight a war it doesn't want to fight, and escalate a war that it doesn't want to escalate, is that nation a democracy in any meaningful sense of the word?

Michael Vercelli, Sarasota

Blame the owners 

Problem pets Jan. 29, letter

The letter writer who responded to the story of the little boy and the woman who saved him from the dog attack sounds justifiably frustrated, but I fear his anger is misdirected.

All of our collective anger about the situation should not be directed toward the dogs, but rather toward the ignorant and irresponsible owners of such dogs. Pit bulls, no matter what the myths say, are not all vicious and unpredictable.

I have been around hundreds of pit bulls during my years of volunteering at the animal shelters, and they are generally very sweet-natured. The ones that are not have been made that way by their owners, and it is up to all of us to focus on this and get these people straightened out.

Why is it that whenever we hear these stories, it seems the owners are usually - to put it nicely - prone to legal troubles? Who in their right mind trains a dog to be vicious, unless they themselves are a danger to society or somehow involved in the illegal sport of dog fighting?

Please contact your senators and representative immediately and voice your support of the effort currently under consideration to strengthen the laws against animal fighting. Let them know that you support Bill 261 in the Senate and Bill 137 in the House.

Sandra Furey, St. Petersburg

It's not the breed

How long must the pit bull, or more accurately the Staffordshire bull terrier, endure the bigotry and hatred we have seen over the last several weeks, yet again. It seems every time there is an incident involving dogs that have been trained to be aggressive, it is the breed of dog that is blamed. Not that particular dog, not the owner, but the breed, as if the breed somehow guarantees aggressive unpredictable behavior.

I have a pit bull and a pit bull mix. Neither one of them has ever given me any problems with aggressive behavior. Ever! They have been taught the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

They are by far the best dogs I've ever had. My point is, it's not the breed, it's the owner, most of the time, and on occasion the dog may have individual problems. Stop blaming the breed!

John Riley Goolsby, Tampa

[Last modified January 31, 2007, 01:00:28]