Anti-gun column filled with propaganda

In his May 29 guest column, John Johnson again trotted out his tired old Violence Policy Center figures, which are largely manufactured propaganda. This radically anti-Second Amendment group was formed in the late 1980s. They have marched in lock-step with handgun control, Sarah Brady, etc. When their other efforts to stifle the right of private citizens to keep and bear arms failed, they began concentrating on overturning concealed-carry laws in individual states.

In 2009, they adopted the strategy of portraying permit holders as murderers to counter legislation in Congress calling for interstate recognition of concealed-carry permits issued by all states, just as the nation does with driver's licenses. They tried to thwart such a law by listing a minute number of permit holders who had supposedly committed violations. Their inflated “statistics” don't bear up under scrutiny.

Some of their “crimes” didn't involve concealed handguns, or guns of any type. They also listed accidents as crimes. Contrary to VPC, the nation's murder rate has been cut in half.

In arguing that students over the age of 21 shouldn't be allowed to have guns on college campuses, he said, “The college-age years are among the most volatile periods in a person's life.” Ironically, I just returned from Memorial Day ceremonies honoring youngsters of the same age group who made huge sacrifices to preserve Mr. Johnson's freedoms. Yes, we used guns.

Dean Varner

Cedar Rapids