Congressman Peters Replies

Just received a response to my letter sent to Congressman Peters.

The content, given that Rep. Peters is a Democrat's Democrat, is not unexpected.

Dear Aaron

Thank you for contacting me regarding newly proposed safety legislation to reduce gun violence. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to express your views on this very important matter. Your input is, and always will be, welcomed and appreciated.

As a father, the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary school was deeply unsettling to me and reaffirms my belief we must do more to protect our children and our communities from senseless acts of violence. Gun violence is all too common; firearms claimed the lives of 450 victims in Michigan in 2011 alone.

The shooting in Newtown has brought us together to start a national conversation on what we can do to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. As a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve and trained marksmen, I understand the unique place firearms hold in American heritage and history. Our government will not, and should not, take guns away from responsible gun owners, but we must do more to reduce gun related violence and protect our children.

I believe that to make progress on keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, we are going to have to come together to implement common sense solutions. For example, I have consistently supported fully funding and implementing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the filter put into place by Congress to stop criminals and the mentally ill from getting their hands on a gun. But this system can only be effective if it is fully put to use. Currently many gun sales are not subject to background checks, including those at gun shows and between private sellers. This is why I believe expanding universal background checks will be a necessary step in ensuring we do not place guns in the hands of dangerous individuals.

I also support a limit on high capacity ammunition magazines, which have been used in mass shootings in Aurora, Virginia Tech, and Tucson. These measures will preserve the rights of responsible gun owners while limiting the ability of vicious criminals to commit mass acts of violence.

In addition to these sensible gun safety measures, I believe we must improve school safety, gain a better understanding of the relationship between media violence and gun violence, and increase access to mental health services. I support the newly proposed Comprehensive School Safety program which will allow schools to hire additional psychologists, social workers, and resource officers. I also support the President's request for Congress to fund Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research on the relationship between video games, media images, and violence. Finally, I am proud that I supported health care reform, necessary legislation that is expanding access to mental health services to millions of Americans, adults and children alike.

While we will never be able to stop every single act of violence, these measures will save lives. I will do everything possible to pass sensible legislation that will reduce gun violence, further expand access to mental health services, and research the link between media portrayals of violence and real world violent behavior.

I would like to thank you again for contacting me. I always enjoy hearing from constituents and hope that you take the time to contact me again soon. For more information, please feel free to visit my website, http://www.peters.house.gov.

Sincerely,
Gary C. Peters
Member of Congress

It is interesting that unlike Sen Mikulski's response to New Jovian Thunderbolt, he doesn't mention the "assault weapons" ban part of the bill and whether he supports or opposes such a taking away of such guns from responsible owners. He only states he's in favor of universal background checks (including the outright lie that you don't need a check if you purchase a firearm at a gun show - try to buy from a dealer at a gun show and you'll see the lie for what it is), and a "limit on high capacity magazines".

In the spirit of compromise, I'll gladly accept a limit on "high cap" magazines of owning 100 such magazines per each and every gun that I have or may buy - that sounds reasonable as more than that and I may run out of storage space. However, I doubt that is what he means.

Sigh.

Keep sending the politicians respectful yet informative letters. If enough people do it they may figure out there is a political price to pay for supporting this unconstitutional dreck.

Sadly, Rep Peters is in a gerrymandered Democrat super-safe district, so any challenge would have to be at during the primary.