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EDITOR:
In his letter to Vice President Joe Biden, Sheriff John D’Agostini stated that he would not be “pressured into enforcing any unconstitutional provision, law or executive order” regarding gun control. He goes on to point out that gun control had been tried but didn’t work, saying, “Gun control is not a fix.”
It sounds like the sheriff is appointing himself to be the arbiter of what’s constitutional and what isn’t. Shouldn’t he perhaps wait for the Supreme Court to decide constitutionality before he makes a statement about what laws or orders he will uphold or disobey? I don’t see any Supreme Court justices riding around El Dorado County executing DUI stops, so maybe the sheriff should step down off their judicial bench.
His belief that gun control has been tried and doesn’t work, besides being the NRA mantra, is also illogical. Wouldn’t his job be easier and the citizens of El Dorado County be safer if there were controls that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals? The first nail you hammer when building a house doesn’t complete the house, so should you stop hammering altogether? It is said that it took Thomas Edison around 10,000 attempts before he came up with a light bulb that worked. If he had stopped at 9,999, many Mountain Democrat readers would have difficulty reading this after sundown.
JOHN PATRICK O’SHEA
Pollock Pines
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
AnthonyFebruary 01, 2013 - 1:06 am
How does the sheriff determine what is constitutional and what is not? I see nothing in the US Constitution which empowers government to criminalize agriculture. Further the 9th amendment makes it clear that unenumerated rights are reserved to the people. The 9th amendment makes no mention of the states, only the people. So if the sheriff is driving past someone's property one day and observes that person exercising his unenumerated 9th amendment right to cultivate his property as he sees fit with a healthy crop of marijuana plants, will the sheriff also refuse to enforce the marijuana law? Just asking. And if anyone wants to argue that a landowner planting and harvesting whatever crop they choose and using it in the privacy of their own home is not an unenumerated right protected by the 9th amendment in a Constitution written by men who earned their livelihood in agriculture, let's hear it.
cookie65February 01, 2013 - 9:22 am
It isn't until your last paragraph that you finally mention keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. Why is that? This overreach of government autority by the obama administration has nothing to do with keeping guns out of the hands of criminal and has everything to do with responsible law abiding citizens. One would have to be a pretzel to follow your twisted logic. It seems to me that the Sheriff mentioned in his letter to the crash test dummy something about anti-social behavior, a term used for the criminal element, and a need to focus on them and the mentally ill. Sadly obama and his ilk aren't interested in that reality, they are focused on the 2nd Amendment rights of law abiding citizens.
Jack MartinFebruary 01, 2013 - 10:50 am
Mr O'Shea, to your point, the Supreme Court has addressed the individual's right to keep and bear arms, per the 2008 case District of Columbia vs Heller. And the National Academy of Sciences studied and determined that gun control laws do not reduce gun crime. http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2004/12/17/naspanel/ So while you may disagree with Sheriff D'Agostini's perspective, the law AND logic are both on his side with this issue.
Dink LaneFebruary 01, 2013 - 1:26 pm
For two weeks I have offered $1 to any Tea-Party, Libertarian, Militia member who can come up with ANY PROOF that Pres. Obama is "Taking guns away from legal owners." I will up it to $2.... Did any of you bother to ACTUALLY read the DOCUMENT sent out by V.P. Biden??? NO... Did anyone bother to LISTEN to NRA's LaFrenchy's convoluted double talk? NO!.... This Hyperbolic B%&#$ about "2nd Amendment rights".... Look at the Actual Constitution! Look at the Bill of Rights.... They both start with "THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE'S LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PROTECTION FROM AGGRESSION." It does NOT say the "right to be aggressive" "or Terrorize the public"! The Second Amendment was added AFTER PUBLIC SAFETY! Try reading some of the Federalist's Papers. You could start with #5... Dangers from Foreign Aggression if it's REALLY the constitution you are protecting...
CeltfireFebruary 01, 2013 - 1:40 pm
Mr. Cookie, is it possible for you to state your opinion without denigrating those who you perceive to be your enemy? It doesn't strengthen your point of view to subtlely spell the president's surname in the lower case or refer to the vice-president as a "crash test dummy". I'm sure you have some worthwhile ideas hidden behind your prickly facade, but I'm inclined to interpret much of what you say as hyperbole, not thoughtful argument. I believe you are simply here to parrot right-wing dogma, trying to pass it off as genuine knowledge.
cookie65February 01, 2013 - 2:29 pm
Celtfire, let me know when the left quits denigrating anyone who stands between them and other peoples money. They are the most vicious, lying, demeaning, insulting group of people in America. And obama and the crash test dummy owe their re-election to it. Besides, what difference, at this point, does it make. They have used so many words that used to have very important meanings so often as an attack that many of those words no longer have any meaning. I am just an opinion on some tiny little local paper. It was the vice president of the United States that proclaimed to a crowd of low informantion voters that "they (the republicans) gonna put y'all back in chains". What a disgusting thing to come from the mouth of the second highest ranking official in America. Take your issue up with them.
Paddy O'furnitureFebruary 01, 2013 - 2:31 pm
Dink, only a buck to try and talk sense to a lefty? Not worth the time. Make it a hundred and it might be worth it. But you'd probably jellyfish out of having to pay.
cookie65February 01, 2013 - 4:02 pm
Celtfire, I will continue to expose this and all the other leftist nonsense and those who support it for as long as can type. If my exposing it causes you greif and the way I choose to expose it is cause for embarrassment for you then that is your problem. Another 160 pages of regulations to run our lives from the failure in chief. http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/nutrition/280613-soda-candy-out-under-proposed-school-snack-rules
Ken SteersFebruary 02, 2013 - 3:21 pm
Dink! I have been looking all over this county for you! I can't seem to find anyone in America with the name Dink Lane. So I guess you are as phony as your arguments.
Izzy MadisonFebruary 03, 2013 - 8:12 pm
As we all know, if ken Steers cannot confirm your identity, you do not exist.