May 11, 2001
Honorable Tom Allen,
I recently received your reply to a letter I wrote and was disturbed by a few things. “I hope we can agree on the need for modest, reasonable steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals” and “to keep children safe.”
Who isn’t for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals? What most gun owners are against, are the plethora of anti-gun measures being called for by members of Congress, when it has not been proven that any of the 20,000 plus laws already on the books have had any effect. By definition, Criminal translates to someone who breaks the law. How can legislation which will only effect the law-abiding, keep guns out of criminals hands? It can’t. Every single “feel-good” law which gets passed, further restricts my right as an American to own a firearm. In an attempt to keep the citizens safe, Australia followed  England’s lead by banning most firearms. What did they accomplish by doing this? Now Australia’s crime rate is even higher than England’s, which is even higher than that which we experience in the United States. All countries which ranked worse than the United States in critical categories, (surveyed by the 2000 International Crime Victims Survey, published by the Dutch Ministry of Justice), have severe restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms. We need go no further than our own District of Columbia, to see that more gun laws equal more crime. When was the last time you strolled down a street in Washington D. C. and felt “safe” because firearms are illegal there?
Ex-President Clinton was bragging on national Television of how the “Instant” background check has kept over One hundred thousand criminals from purchasing firearms. Why are there not One hundred thousand more criminals in prison? By the very act of illegally attempting to purchase a firearm, that “One hundred thousand” committed a felony. Imagine how much safer we would be if that “One hundred thousand” were behind bars?!?
My other issue, child safety, is something that is near and dear to my heart. I have a fifteen-month-old son who is the single most important person in my life. Do my wife and I practice firearm safety? You bet we do. Do we practice safety just because it has been in the headlines lately? NO. As firearm owners, we have taken it upon ourselves to keep firearms and ammunition inaccessible to our son. HCI and the “media elite” paint a picture that guns are the most fearsome factor in keeping our children safe. The fact is, firearms accidents account for 0.4 percent of all deaths among children. The leading causes are motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, poisoning, medical mistakes, choking on ingested objects and environmental factors, such as lightning. I think that gun owners deserve a pat on the back since they are safer than Mother Nature herself.

(Cont'd)
If you want to keep guns out of criminals’ hands, then prosecute them and keep them behind bars. If you want to keep children safe, then educate them and support programs like the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program. Any other attempt to accomplish these two goals by restricting my right as a gun owner will be met with stiff opposition. Given the facts that I’ve presented to you, I would also infer that any “anti-gun” measure you may support, is not to keep guns out of criminals hands, not to keep children safe, but just another step to disarm me as a law-abiding citizen and an American.
Don’t make me run against you in the next election
Sincerely,
Robert D. Ostrander

Great letter.  Keep on writing, I do.  If all gun owners would just write one letter a week and address it to all their representatives, it would make a huge difference.