VOL. XV, NO. 12
MAY 3, 1974
Gun Power
'West Wasn't Won By a Registered Gun'
'West Wasn't Won By a Registered Gun'
By CHRIS LADNER
The need for a complete ban on the sale and manufacture of handguns and the destruction of those now in use is more evident now than ever before in our nation's history. This may sound like a brash statement to some, but I can back up this argument by showing two simple but tragic case histories.
Several weeks ago in Chicago two young policemen were brutally shot to death by a pistol-wielding ex‑convict named Jacob Cohen. After murdering the two policemen, Cohen fled to Milwaukee where he was killed the next day after a gun battle which saw several people wound ed. Again, in Milwaukee, Cohen used an inexpensive handgun to wound his victims.
I'm sure you've heard of the story of a Chicago family and their sad experience with a gun collection. Last year the family's mother died of natural causes. A few days later their teen‑aged girl was examining one of the guns from her father's large collection when it went off and paralyzed her for life.
The need for a complete ban on the sale and manufacture of handguns and the destruction of those now in use is more evident now than ever before in our nation's history. This may sound like a brash statement to some, but I can back up this argument by showing two simple but tragic case histories.
Several weeks ago in Chicago two young policemen were brutally shot to death by a pistol-wielding ex‑convict named Jacob Cohen. After murdering the two policemen, Cohen fled to Milwaukee where he was killed the next day after a gun battle which saw several people wound ed. Again, in Milwaukee, Cohen used an inexpensive handgun to wound his victims.
I'm sure you've heard of the story of a Chicago family and their sad experience with a gun collection. Last year the family's mother died of natural causes. A few days later their teen‑aged girl was examining one of the guns from her father's large collection when it went off and paralyzed her for life.
Months later, the girl's father committed suicide in a fit of depression, and then her brother also took his own life. Both of the suicides were carried out by using handguns. One family was totally destroyed by these mass-produced human killers.
Yet there are a few gun‑loving "hobbyists" who insist that there is no danger in the possession of handguns. "Guns don't kill, people do" seems to be one of their favorite arguments. Some of the same members of this group also opposed registration a few years back. Then they said things like "the West wasn't won with a registered gun" and "register commies, not guns."
The gun lovers claim that handguns are used for sport, and perhaps in rare cases they are. But I don't think that Jacob Cohen had the idea of leisurely going out to a shooting range to spend his hours when he purchased his pistol. Even those who claim that keeping handguns is a good, healthy sport are wrong. Handguns are designed to kill, and for that reason alone they should be banned. Cockfighting was once a sport, too, but our respect for the life of a chicken proved to be so great that this sport was banned. Can't we show the same concern for human life?
Yet there are a few gun‑loving "hobbyists" who insist that there is no danger in the possession of handguns. "Guns don't kill, people do" seems to be one of their favorite arguments. Some of the same members of this group also opposed registration a few years back. Then they said things like "the West wasn't won with a registered gun" and "register commies, not guns."
The gun lovers claim that handguns are used for sport, and perhaps in rare cases they are. But I don't think that Jacob Cohen had the idea of leisurely going out to a shooting range to spend his hours when he purchased his pistol. Even those who claim that keeping handguns is a good, healthy sport are wrong. Handguns are designed to kill, and for that reason alone they should be banned. Cockfighting was once a sport, too, but our respect for the life of a chicken proved to be so great that this sport was banned. Can't we show the same concern for human life?