Show Bedeviling The Honest Citizen Judging by recent figures concerning the killing of policemen sweeping gun control laws aimed at depriving the law abiding of the right of gun ownership would be about as effective as outlawing the rising of the sun THESE FIGURES show that of the arrested killers of policemen 71 percent had been arrested previously and 57 percent per per- cent had been convicted mostly of of crimes of violence THIS MEANS that It was already illegal illegal ille ille- gal for most of them to have guns guns' under federal feder l law Jaw and many state or local laws Between 15 and 20 percent of the Ute police policemen men murdered with handguns were kl kill killed ed with their own handguns which their assailants snatched away from them This could be the consequence of Dont Shoot orders given police in some cities IN THE past three years Black Panthers Panthers Pan Pan- have murdered nine law Jaw officers and wounded 56 more more with gunshots Most of the guns traced to them were found to have been acquired by theft The simple fact as pointed out in The American Rifleman is that Most police police po po- lice killings are committed by criminals with illegal guns Rather than passing another law for them to ignore and break the solution is to put them in jail THERE ARE enough laws now under which that can be done without bedeviling bedeviling bedevil bedevil- ing the millions of honest citizens who own guns t The right of gun ownership Is one of the most fundamental and traditional of American freedoms A gun Is a companion com com- companion panion of ranchers farmers trappers woodsmen and sportsmen Those who would strike down the right of gun ownership for these millions of responsible citizens in the name of curbing curb ing crime are arc committing the greatest disservice to the basic principles of our American philosophy of individual free dom door |