The following is s true account of my families experiences after our son was murdered by an illegally purchased hand gun in 1993. After his murder I became an advocate of the 2nd Amendment and vehemently opposed to gun control of any shape or hidden agenda. I have sent the remarks as contained in this post to the newly formed anti-gun organization founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg "Mayors against illegal guns expressing a different view point from a victim of a murdered child that is purposely ignored and avoided by this group and the President of the United States.
My letter;
Dear Mayors against Illegal Guns:
My letter;
Dear Mayors against Illegal Guns:
My name is
Ralph Myers and I want to share my story with you as a father of a son that was
murdered in 1993 by a criminal that
purchased his hand gun at a Los Angeles area DONUT SHOP.
Here's my
story and why I am opposed to your organization's mission to destroy our 2nd
Amendment Rights under the guise of getting guns off our streets by advocating
for more restrictive and to me unconstitutional gun control laws. My story is
180 degrees opposite to what your organizations stated goals are.
First;
Background Checks and Waiting Periods
When my son
was murdered in 1993 in the Los Angeles area California already had strict gun
control laws on the books including a 15 day waiting period before one could
take possession of any firearm purchased legally. This waiting period exceeded
the Brady Law waiting period by ten days.
The criminal
that murdered my son didn’t buy the handgun from a dealer, private citizen, gun
show or any other recognizable source that has a federally approved permit to
sell firearms. No, he bought it at a DONUT SHOP so all the gun control laws as
your organization is advocating were meaningless in preventing my son’s murder,
they will only serve to penalize those of us that are law-abiding citizens by
making it more difficult to purchase a firearm.
Second; your
claim that 91% of rank and file law enforcement support your organization’s
objectives was not what my wife and I experienced when our son was murdered.
In fact our
experience was just the opposite of what you are claiming. Here’s what
happened, what we were advised by the rank and file LAPD officers that came to
our home when we found out our son had been shot and killed and what we did.
My son, who
was 25 at the time lived at home with his mother and me and was a typical
fun-loving California youth. He was not in a gang but was murdered by a member
of an Asian gang. I only point this out
because he was killed at a private party that he was invited to attend and
several members of this gang attempted to crash. As the case unfolded the gang
members tried to intimidate some of the partygoers that were scheduled to
testify at my son’s murderer’s trial. Some of the witnesses were followed and
even shot at by the gang members and I was fearful for the safety of my wife,
daughter and me. My wife and I were told
by the rank and file members of the LAPD
they couldn’t protect us 24/7 and
recommended we purchase a firearm for our home for self-protection. They also
said they didn’t want us to say what they had just advised us of because of
repercussions they would suffer from the anti-gun rights, politically motivated
superiors of the LAPD and the mayor’s office.
So here’s is
the course of action I chose;
As a veteran
of the US Army who was familiar with firearms I followed the rank and file
officer’s advice of those brave men and women police officers who are on the
front lines of the streets of Los Angeles risking their lives to “protect and
to serve” and purchased a handgun. I did this legally, from a licensed gun
store, waited the 15 days to pick it up. I then took my wife and daughter to a
local gun range and taught them how to properly handle the pistol I had just
purchased for our self-defense. (It is important to add here that while my son
and daughter were growing up we chose not
to have a firearm in our home but the key word here is we chose, not we were prohibited from having a gun in our home or on
our person.) If your organization had its way and existed in 1993 I would not
have had the choice to be able to defend my family and me from a criminal that
didn’t abide by all the “feel good” political B.S. gun control laws that were
already in existence and not being enforced.
Realizing that gun control only works
for the criminal elements in society and against the law-abiding citizens my next step was to
join the National Rifle Association and take up the cause of protecting our 2nd
Amendment Right to Bear Arms. As a veteran and former member of the US Army I had already
sworn an oath to the US Constitution that I would uphold it (all of it not just
the parts I agree with.) Now at age 71 I doubt if I have many more years left
in my life but for the few that remain I will continue to fight your
organizations and those that support it with all the energy I have left and
until my last breath is drawn or my last dollar is spent.
As a crime victim
survivor like those at Columbine, Aurora, Virginia Tech and most recently
Newtown, CT I know all too well the feeling of losing someone to gun violence
but I REFUSE to allow our 2nd Amendment Rights to even be altered
one iota, because if I do liberal leftist elitist like you and current president
we have right now will ultimately destroy it and soon after the rest of our
constitutional rights.
Yesterday, the president showed his true contempt for our
liberties and has been shamefully exploiting the Newtown victims to further his
agenda. Contrary to what he said after the US Senate blocked the passage of
more useless and unconstitutional gun control laws it is he that should be ASHAMED
not the Senators that honored their oath of office to uphold all of the
constitution. As a crime victim survivor I would have gladly accepted a
ride on Air Force One (at tax payer expense) to testify and lobby (which I have
done before in trying to get a Crime Victim’s Rights Amendment to the US
Constitution but at my own expense not the tax payer’s) but my testimony would
have been unwelcomed because it would have been much more different than the
staged and orchestrated views of those victims he was exploiting to destroy the
rights of those of us that hold the US Constitution with reverence and respect.
I am but one of millions of others that feel this strongly
and WE WILL NOT GIVE UP and if your organization succeeds in its ultimate
objective of taking away our 2nd Amendment Rights through the
passage of more gun control laws that won’t and don’t work I feel you will have
unleashed the wrath of all of us that like the criminals out there we will not
comply. I too am fighting in the memory of my murdered son just as those from
Newtown, CT are and my loss is no less than theirs, (which is something you or
the current administration doesn’t want to hear) and I owe it to him to see
that the 2nd Amendment is preserved as a barrier against a
tyrannical government which I feel the current administration is on the path in
becoming and as organizations such as Mayors against illegal guns are.
Ralph Myers
Father of murdered son Tom Myers
