OCR Text |
Show Crime and Oppression The increase in crime in this country, both major and minor offenses, has been coincident with the increaso in oppressive and restrictive re-strictive laws passed by both the states and the Federal government. Calm and judicial surveys of the crime problem have been conspic -uously lacking. In contrast, there has been no end to the urgings ol sentimental reformers who wish to saddle us with still more laws. Their most strenuous efforts, culminating cul-minating in a biil recently introduced intro-duced into the House of Representatives, Repre-sentatives, have been given to advocating ad-vocating stringent laws forbidding good citizens ownership and possession pos-session of small arms. Such laws are aireaay ;n eilccv in a number of states and the have been, according to many observers, ob-servers, singular failures. Instead of decreasing crime they have increased in-creased it in two ways: By making criminals of any citizens who do not obey the restrictive ordinance and by assuring the real criminals crimin-als that most persons and households house-holds would be unarmed and unprotected. un-protected. In at least one state a Grand Jury has strongly urged that the anti-gun laws De repealed. When America was a free country, coun-try, in fact as well as theory, our crime problem tooK care of itself to a large extent. Now our prisons pris-ons are filled to overflowing due in great part to offenses which twenty or so years ago were not illegal. There is an obvious moral mor-al in this that might be given Intelligent In-telligent consideration by our legislators. |