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American Gunspeak

Wayne Grytting's "How to Advertise your Assault Guns" (ETS!, 8/22/01) condemns one part of the nation's gun problem, that manufacturers cannot be sued for crimes their customers commit with guns. It is impossible to believe that such a precedent would ever be permitted by the Corporate State; it would open the doors for similar suits against all sorts of private industries such as automobiles (used in drive-by shootings too, remember), knives, box-cutters, oil, chemicals, ink markers and spray paints (graffiti), matches and lighters, alcohol distillers and vendors, military weapons suppliers, and you name it. It appears that any legislator who pushed for right-to-sue knew it would fail but liked being seen as on the side of anti-violence ... while elsewhere having no problem with bombing Iraqi children or shoot-first police tactics.

The most troubling aspect of the ostensibly wholesome anti-gun movement is that it ignores gun use by police ... not to mention the huge international US weapons cartel. The anti-gun movement, as conducted, serves the interests of an increasingly homicidal, out-of-control, unaccountable, racist, rights-violating and greatly expanding police force. An anti-gun movement that omits this vital area is no more legitimate than the "right to life" movement that ignores wars, state executions, work-safety violations, police shootings, the "war on drugs," highways and autos, lack of a public health system, industrial toxins in consumer products, and all the rest.

Anti-gun activists forget that gun manufacturers (and all the deadly, law-breaking, poisonous, fraudulent, etc.) industries are approved and licensed by government officials who, incidentally, happily receive lots of income from the industries. Gun makers, et. al. only succeed because they are allowed to. It's absurd to blame only the capitalist opportunists (and then the consumers) while generally ignoring those who hold the door open for the businesses and look elsewhere for blame when trouble happens.

As the "right-to-life" movement is really about dis-empowering women and increasing religious power in governing, the "anti-gun" movement is really about increasing the power of an already too-powerful police state. It is also a cheap fly-swatting, blame-the-victims solution to the inevitable violent effects of the corporate state's war on the poor and the war on non-corporate drugs.

John Jonik, Philadelphia, PA

Solar Power vs. Speed Traps

Here's a good tidbit for you to think on. The schools have taken to posting "When children are present" restrictions on their school crossing speed zones. Here in Jefferson County, the scam is to place a Deputy with a student in some obscure place within 300 feet of the crossing and then ticketing "speeders" for violating this law--and gaining the triple fines our Legislature has allowed them. The fact that a DRIVER cannot see the "children" doesn't enter into the equation.

Quilcene Schools (which my wife is a board member for) was required by the State Patrol to change from that type of sign to one that notifies drivers WHEN the school zone speed limit is in effect. This is required because the "when children are present" are ILLEGAL when used on Federal highways (like US 101). I designed and built two units for Quilcene. I used about 2 dozen yellow LED's in a "hood" for the flashing signal (2 per sign). This is a current draw of 1.68 A at 2.8 VDC (4.7W). I used a "PIC-Stick" controller ($36 each, quantity 2) to control this system. It interfaces to a "Palm Pilot" for programming. I used a 82 Amp-Hour 12V battery to power each of the signs (the batteries were donated by a local trucking company). I recharge the system using 2 1W photovoltaic solar panels ($24.95 each, quantity 4) with limiting diodes. Not counting my design time, these units cost me $135 each in materials and took me about 4 hours to build. Volume purchasing and (semi-)mass production techniques should reduce the costs for these units into the $200 (complete) range.

Now, with ANY type of "encouragement" from the State Legislature, we could create a company to produce solar-powered signs and traffic lights that would probably employ some 350 people. It would jump start ONE area of solar technology that could probably pay itself back in a matter of a year or so.

Lew Merrick, PE, Quilcene WA

Fish Kill Firefighters

I guess the environmental activists of this country are doing something right. Why else would the mainstream media and political spin doctors be blaming us for things well beyond what we do if we are not making them nervous?

Recently, during a serious wildfire in Washington state four young firefighters were killed. A number of factors affected the events that took their lives. But according to the mainstream media folks (Fox News in particular) it was the environmental rules that protected an endangered fish that were squarely to blame.

I thought it was a bit of a reach when I heard the talking head's resonant voice lamenting the fact that we could value fish more than people. If regulations had not been in place, the forest service could have taken water out of the nearest river in the early morning and those firefighters would still be alive.

What was to stop the administration of the forest service from having already gone through the appropriate channels to assure access to the nearest water supply days before? It wasn't the first day of the fire, and the river was one of the nearest to the blaze from the beginning. But because of a law protecting a fish, the authorities were unable to get permission to take water until well into the afternoon.

And this is the environmentalists' fault? Someone didn't do their job in a timely fashion and the fish are to blame?

Americans are waking up to the need to protect our vanishing natural world.

And we must be making enough noise to get someone nervous. You would have to be fairly frightened to spin the story of those young people's deaths so that the cause was a law that protects a living creature.

Keep it up, people. Never allow your voice to be silent. There is a world to protect from those in power who choose greed over the future

--Terry Molina, Lantana, FL