Dear Senator Casey,

Thank you for your public service.

This is the first time I've ever written to a politician to voice my opinion, but the issue of gun control has become so troubling that I can no longer remain silent, and trust that lawmakers have the best interests of law abiding gun owners at heart.

Thousands of years ago, primative humans discovered that if they chip away at a stone, they could create a sharp object that would help protect your village against rival and rogue would-be invaders.  Shortly thereafter, the rival tribes responded by taking that sharply fashioned stone and attached it to a long stick, inventing the spear, which gave them the advantage of distance from their victims.  Then, the tribes discovered that if you take a vine and attach it to two ends of a stick you could create a device (bow) which could propel the [arrrow] even further, and at higher speeds.  This evolution has continued with the development of the modern firearm.  For thousands of years, criminals have searched for ways to gain an advantage over their victims, you must agree, and at every point in history a ban of the weapon du jour only would have served to strengthen the attacker and weaken the prey.  The modern firearm is here to stay, until a new weapon evolves, superior to existing technology.  The government can not stop evolution.

And so it is today.  In every case of gun violence committed by dangerous and heartless criminals, laws were broken, either in the use, acquisition, or posession of the weapon.  Had the existing laws been honored, the crimes would not have occurred.  There are thousands of gun "rules" already.  So many that as a lawful gun owner I find it difficult to keep track of them all.  Adding more rules will only serve to confuse the lawful and will continue to be ignored by the lawless.

The most rediculous language has come up recently, with Hillary Clintons comments in Mexico, and even AG Holder's latest lingo.  Why on earth should I have more of my rights taken away because criminals are illegally exporting guns to Mexico?  How about we tell the Mexicans to strengthen their borders and figure it out for themselves?  At most, we should work in concert with Mexico to strengthen the border.  The thought of taking away more of my second ammendment rights over the illegal importation of weapons into Mexico is revolting and rediculous.

Rather than additional gun legislation, (which historically has been unsuccessful, you must admit), how about we increase the penalties for crimes committed with guns?  An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.  Use a gun in a violent crime, and we will cut your hands off.  Ok, that might be extreme, but you get the idea.  If you want to deter criminal use of guns, get the pain to exceed the pleasure.

Please cite one instance in history, either inside the US or out, where the introduction of restrictive weapons legislation reduced the incidence of violent crime.  I'd be happy to share examples both within the US and out, where weapons bans actually increased the incidence of weapons violence––only serving to give advantage to the predator and weaken the prey.  For example, Turkey in the 1910s, USSR in the 30s, Germany in the late 30s and early 40s, China in the 50s, Guatemala in the 60s, Uganda and Cambodia in the 70s.  More recently, the UK and Australia have fresh data which further contradicts the sanity of restrictive gun laws for law abiding citizens.

Please also know that my opinions are not a small minority on this issue.  Now, more than ever, gunowners have both eyes wide open, and will cast our votes accordingly.