Use right gun word
Attention, all media personnel and news reporters: Please educate yourselves about proper firearm nomenclature before you attempt to engage in a discussion of gun violence and suppressing my Second Amendment rights.
The long, square-ish, boxy thing that holds rounds of ammunition and is then inserted into the hand grip of a semi-automatic pistol is called a “magazine.” It is not a “clip.” Ever. Well, only on TV is it a clip.
In real life, a clip is a small strip of metal designed to hold several rounds of ammunition aligned specifically so they may be pushed into a magazine one after another very quickly.
Clips load ammunition into a magazine. The terms are not interchangeable. Using them as such makes it obvious you do not know what you are trying to write/talk about and makes your entire article/story impossible to take seriously.
Brian Nichols
Brewer
Gun-control risks
Could the control of guns ever be as effective as the control of illegal drugs? Possibly effective, but law-abiding citizens would be in more danger.
If you make it illegal for law-abiding citizens to be armed, the only armed people will be those willing to break the law. They will know that law-abiding people are unarmed and, therefore, easy prey.
Making it illegal to have guns in schools in Connecticut did not prevent the recent tragedy. It prevented all qualified teachers from having a gun that could be used to possibly prevent or reduce the extent of the tragedy.
A better idea would be to have pepper spray, tasers, and loaded pistols and rifles with laser sights in a locked cabinet near the office door that could be quickly accessed by trained, qualified personnel at the first sign or sound of trouble.
Some legislators want to pass a law that requires gun show sales to have buyers checked to make sure they are not prohibited from owning a gun.
I called the Penobscot Sheriff’s Department and asked if there were a number to call to check on a buyer of a gun I want to sell privately. He couldn’t tell me, but gave me the number of the ATF in Portland.
I called the Portland ATF and asked the same question, and was again told that there is no number I could call.
Am I confused, or is this a ridiculous situation?
Paul Bouchard
Orrington
Congress needs adults
What is the difference between the present Congress and a Boy Scout troop. Give up? The Boy Scout troop has adult supervision.
Maybe Congress should get their fingers out of their ears, quit saying “la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you,” to each other and actually try cooperating to do the people’s business.
Now there’s a novel idea. Oh, and by the way, the president might give it a whirl, too.
Joan H. Pichering
Orono
Missing the Christmas point
Political correctness or not. I have not seen a big-box store this Christmas season displaying a “Merry Christmas” sign in front of their store, on the foyer, or on the door. “Happy holidays” just does not cut it. They want your money and give no thought to what Christmas stands for.
Ralph Steeves
Presque Isle
Securing iPads
Two years ago, Foxcroft Academy decided to embrace technology for their students’ edification. To achieve that goal, the school purchased iPads for every student.
Essential details were not properly considered before implementation. The iPads are not secured in any way. Students can install any application they desire. They can be used to communicate via Skype. As a parent, that is a scary thought. Games and texting are a
regular part of their use, even during school hours.
The administrator of the program informed me they do not lock down the iPads, because students could figure out how to unlock them and do what they want anyways. Their solution is to run a secure firewall at the school. This does not stop the games and texting during school,
nor does it help parents with protecting their kids at home. The administrator’s response was that parents could sign a waiver disallowing students from taking them home. If students have their textbooks on their iPads, how can they do homework without it?
Apple provides software to lock down these devices. By using this and proper protocols, these devices can be made much more secure. Nothing in the computer world is bullet-proof, but that does not mean you just do nothing.
If schools are going to provide technology to students, they should be prepared to secure those devices. If it is too “difficult,” then they should not be providing it until they are ready and able to do so.
Daniel Bayerdorffer
Dexter
Daniel parent your own child.Don’t expect the school to do it or blame them for your inability or indifference.
J. Pichering: good letter.
D. Bouchard: Compared to the risk faced from so many other aspects of modern life, the school massacres, horrible indeed, do not indicate an excessive risk to schools, their teachers, or students. Definitely not worth considering your drastic measures. Unlike the wild west, we don’t need more vigilantes.
B. Nichols: lack of gun expert correct jargon does not invalidate the rest of the message.
Brian Nichols–Are you Serious!?!?!?!
He’s right. Furthermore, the newsmedia have done a terrible job of explaining what an assault rifle is. I have news for you: The Newtown shooter did not use an assault rifle, and there have been no indications that his mother owned one, either.
But pesky facts have a way of interfering with needless hysteria and journalists simply don’t like explaining things to people.
Huh? Now we have a regular poster that says his mother didn’t own the weapons that Lanza used? Why haven’t we heard this on the news?
An assault rifle is one that can be switched from semiautomatic fire to automatic fire with a flip of a switch. Few people have a federal license for such a weapon.
Whooptiedooo. Do you think any of the victims gave one large rats rectum wether the description of the weapon used was politically or technicly correct? You say magazine another one says clip. You both know what the other is talking about. More song and dance music. While nothing will be done about the underlying problem.
Yup, just diversionary talk.
Part of the problem is people don’t even know how a gun works or how to handle one safely. So of course getting the terminology correct matters. A lot of people hear “assault rifle” and automatically think the shooter in Newtown used a machine gun. He did not. Using words correctly means everything in this debate. Words have meaning. And when we begin to misuse words, we’re no longer talking the same language.
Respect firearms as the tools they are, and use the correct terminology. Back when I took the hunter safety course, you couldn’t pass if you didn’t know the correct terms.
Oh wow, what a big important major difference!!! Not to those victims he shot, execution style……not just once, but over and over again. Oh gee , I forgot to add the word “semi”……pardon me….
You don’t know what execution style is, do you?
Yes, I do , as much as you do. He (the killer) meticuously planned this out. There is no doubt and there was proof. Execute means to produce in accordance with a plan or design.
Perhaps you should know what you are talking about.
Where are you getting your information from? What do you think he used to kill all those people then? No, he did not use one on himself …..you are right about that part. He used a handgun to kill himself.
He used a semiautomatic rifle. That’s it. An assault rifle is a rifle that can shoot automatically. You cannot buy an assault rifle at Walmart, Dick’s, Cabela’s, or most other retail stores.
Mr. Steeves: don’t you like capitalism? The people who own big-box stores, like all good capitalists, want to appeal to the widest range of customers. Therefore, since other holidays which involve gift-giving are celebrated in December, “happy holidays” does, in fact, “cut it.”
Mr. Bouchard, there has not been a single proposal made to deprive any citizen of his right to own weapons for hunting or self-defense (assuming he is not a felon or insane). Address the actual proposals being made: limitation of magazine size, banning of high capacity semi-automatics, and closing the gun show loophole that allows private purchase of guns by those without legal ability to buy them from a gun shop.
Mr. Nichols, how large a magazine do you need? Would six rounds suffice? If not, why not?
Again, the second amendment is NOT about hunting.
There are limiting factors when it comes to free speech.
He and those like him do not want any limitations whatsoever on the amount of rounds,etc. There is no reasoning with them in that way but then you already know that.
Home defense is a lawful use of firearms, and I can imagine a number of scenarios where a larger than six round magazine would be necessary. For example, your home is invaded by three armed criminals. You fire rapidly to eliminate the threat, but not all of the rounds hit their mark. You might need several rounds/intruder to defend the home: far more than 6.
Just an example, but District of Columbia v. Heller affirms the individual right to bear arms for lawful purposes, home defense included. The debate, therefore, should be where the line is drawn on a weapon suitable for home defense.
I agree about registration and background checks: nothing wrong with those.
Joan Pichering: Nice letter and good intent; the question remains ‘ can we get them to listen to the people’ ? My guess is no, they have no interest in us.
Ralph Steeves: Give it a rest!!!!
Mr Nichols – Does that mean if we use the word clip instead of magazine, those kids aren’t really dead? But then, perhaps, YOU’RE a little behind on nomenclature. I’m 75, a former NRA member, bird hunter, skeet shooter and it’s been a clip for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was changed to magazine when it started holding 50-100 rounds for you target shooters and deer hunters.
If you’re wishing someone a “merry Christmas” as an attack and as a political statement, I think you’re missing the entire point of Christmas and I feel very sorry for you and anyone who has to deal with you. And worse, if you think someone wishing you “happy holidays” is an attack against you, then again, I feel very sorry for you and anyone who has to deal with you. Get a grip on reality and quit being so paranoid.
They fear social change. They’ve always been with us, they always will.
You said it.
More people are killed with hands and feet than with rifles or shotguns.
Simple recorded fact.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8