The sole letter to the editor published in the Kinston Free Press in the Sunday, July 23rd edition entitled “How to have less crime in North Carolina” raised a few Red Flags. In his letter, Mr. Pearson submits that young people have guns “many of which are stolen or given to them by elders.” He then offered up a way to catch these perpetrators, “young criminals” who are “getting away with it”. He suggests a minimum age to purchase ammunition be set at 20 years of age, that retailers be required to make available to law enforcement the name, age, address, type of ammo and quantity.  He says our legislature and governor should take action.

See any red flags yet? The first one, of course, is an infringement on our Second Amendment rights by limiting a person old enough to go to war and defend his or her country from buying ammunition in the States. Furthermore, to have ammo buyers submitted into yet another layered database is just another infringement on privacy. Current North Carolina law does not require a license for the sale of ammunition, require sellers of ammunition to maintain a record of the purchasers, or require a license to purchase or possess ammunition.

From the Center For Disease Control statistics, heart disease is the number one killer in these united States with around 633,000 dying each year. Cancer comes in second at around 560,000. You may think it bizarre, but how about if we required retailers to check your identification and have reports ready on how much unhealthy food you buy at the market or how many cigarettes you purchase? You say, “Well that’s not the same thing. It’s my right to eat the way I want and to smoke.” But fat and cigarettes kill far more people than guns.  According to the CDC, in 2015 there were over 36,000 gun related deaths, many of which were self inflicted.

That means the chances of you eating yourself to death are about 17.5 times higher than death by firearm.

I submit we should not legislate more law. We are already overburdened with regulation. I submit that each child deserves a mother and a father to raise them. Most of our problems today stem directly from irresponsible parenting. Guns get a bad rap because they are easy prey. False narratives created by main stream media, along with liberal fear mongering, continue to pad the pockets of anti-gun special interest groups and indoctrinate the ignorant with liberal logic.

People are afraid of things they don’t understand. Don’t be that person.