Milford chronicle., 1934-02-16
SpOrtsmeR ASsGiL
A - ARti-PiStOL LGlUs
" As Help To Crime

SpOftSmen OF the country, led b,
the National Rife Association, ar,
preparing to fight any legislation
proposed during the present session
of Congress which might impose un
reasonable restrictions upon the
right of an honest citizen to pos
sess any kind of gun, excepting {
machine gun, for his protection ol
for sporting purposes. according tC
plans announced by the rifle asso-
| citation.
The attitude of the association
which has the support of the fair
minded police officials, is that the
criminals greatest asset is the au-
tomobile and. more recently, the air
plane, averring that lit is the auto
mobile which makes possible the
sudden descent on the intended VIC
tim. the speedy getaway and the
battling disappearance"
According to the rifle body, it has
been the progressive disarming Of
the honest citizen, coupled with the
progressive development of the au-
tomobile and the airplane, which
has coincided with the growth of
criminal aggressiveness and crimi-
nal power, and il recommends that
a federal law against the driving of
automobiles or airplanes across in-
terstate boundaries by known GRIM
inals, with a penitentiary sentence
and not a money fine as the penalty
is a far more reasonable and would
be a far more popular and effective
law than one affecting the inter-
state transportation of firearms.
To limit the reputable mans de-
sire for pistol would only defeat
the purpose of the government to
check the crime wave, the sports
men contend. The most striking ex-
ample of the futility of stringent
laws against pistols is New York
State, where the drastic Sullivan
law has served only to disarm the
responsible man and arm the gang
ster. One of the country's most no.
ted newspaper columnists has stat
ed: "The late Big Tim Sullivan,
who prepared the Sullivan law TO
prevent carrying concealed weapons,
and kept all but criminals from get
ting pistols, once said: 4 can have
any man in New York killed for
$780,"
Respecting fallacious features of
some proposed laws, c. B. Lister,
secretary-treasurer of the National
Rife Association, points to several
inconsistencies apparent in recent
magazine article by Attorney Cen
eral H. c. Cummings.
I'VE would call the attorney gen.
erals attention." Mr.. Lister states,
"to the irrefutable fact that so long
as firearms are an aid to the GRIM
inal, it will be impossible to keep
guns out of his hands. The criminal
has already frequently demonstrated
his ability to steal what he wants
from government armories and mu-
nicipal police stations and to man
ufacture, under the eyes of prison
guards, perfectly useable weapons
out of materials available within
prison walls, as happened several
months ago in Folsom Prison in Cal
ifornia.
I'VE would also call the attorney
generals attention to the fact that If
there ARE more armed criminals in /
the United States than there are |
men in the Army and the Navy it |
is hardly fair to call upon unarmed /
in "a war that must be |
fought to the finish
"Then We would call his attention
to the fact that the principal wea-
pom of democracy through the ages
has been the ability of the individual |
citizen to possess and to use with
skill arms which were the equal of
hose possessed by the criminal and
by the political and financial mas
.ers of the period. The great DEM
Of the world have invari-
ably been built upon this doctrine.
rhe relationships Of the world have
Deen built upon the disarmament of
he common people.
I'VE will whole-heartedly support
he attorney general in his efforts to
lean up the courts, to break the
'onds between the political and the
'riminal world, to put an end to a
ystem of criminal jurisprudence
which makes a mockery of justice
nd TO discourage the use of guns
y criminals by heavy additional
but we cannot avoid Op-
'0sing his idea that il Is possible by
he passage of any law 10 strike
from the hands OF the un-
erworld.
I'VE cannot agree with him that
is, his right TO call upon a citizen
y disarmed by such laws to war
pOn armed criminals. 1t will not be
ecessary to do so If the courts and
le police are taken out Of politios!" z
In general, the remedies to COM s
at crime suggested by Attorney 3
eneral Cummings meet with the E
Ivor of the rife association; only =
Is advocacy Of laws that might dis z
,tIrage the honest man from having e
gun, while the criminal would al x
ays find means of keeping well g
lpplied with guns Of all sorts. finds x
among the sportsmeni Y
I'd their national ORGANIZATION. iG