Why we need guns
Regarding the letter from Angela Gaffney-Smith in the recent Saugerties Times saying the 26 people that died in Newtown, CT, are reasons not to own an “assault” rifle, I have a question for you. Who was responsible for the greatest mass shooting of civilians of the last 100 years? If you said governments, you are correct! Governments are responsible for the murders of hundreds of millions of people over the last 100 years! Governments are the real mass murderers! The ghosts of my relatives in the mass graves of Nazi Germany cry out, “Remember us, we were ordinary people killed for opposing our government, and some of us were killed for nothing at all!”
The ghosts from Russia, Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba, etc. say the same thing! Do you think those people foresaw their government becoming that evil? I can assure you they did not! Our founding fathers, living in the grip of tyranny, foresaw that the last resort against tyrants was a non-governmental militia of ordinary citizens bearing military arms.
If you don’t believe me look up the words of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and many others. You are the militia when the government turns rotten and all else fails! The Constitution is the line the government is never to cross. It is your patriotic duty to oppose unconstitutional acts and we have allowed almost all of our rights to be trampled in the name of “security”! No more! When our government aids our enemies, sets up our dollar to collapse, floods us with people to take our scarce jobs and our votes away, targets us for speaking out, squanders our blood and treasure overseas bankrupting us, guess what? They are not your friend. And when you see them buying a billion rounds of bullets that can only be used against civilians, illegally militarizing the police, buying armored vehicles for use on our streets, secretly videoing and recording everything from all of us, setting up life in prison without trial for whoever they feel like, building secret prisons, like they are now, something is seriously wrong! Look it up, every one of these has happened. All they need is a reason to turn the key. So I say to every responsible adult speak out, protest, pay attention, vote…and buy guns. Big ones!
Karl Krause
Saugerties
Unconstitutional nonsense
I’m responding to Angela Gaffney-Smith’s letter in the Jan. 23 Saugerties Times. Angela closes her letter by urging us to “Protect and nurture our children.” The loss of any child’s life is a tragedy, but putting things in perspective, over 700 children under the age of 14 die each year by unintentional drowning. Many of them in the one-to-four-year-old age group die in a backyard pool. Where is the outrage over this? Why aren’t we requiring background checks before a pool installation, mandating swimming lessons for pool owners, and limiting the depth of the water to only seven inches? Maybe we should make it ten inches deep, the courts may find seven inches an arbitrary number. These proposals I agree are nonsense, but to me all the so called “commonsense” restrictions on guns are nonsense as well. There is not a single provision in the SAFE Act that would have prevented Sandy Hook. Let’s look at the key provisions one by one:
Background checks: The shooter at Sandy Hook (I won’t dignify him by even saying his name) would not have passed a background check, so he kills his mother and steals her guns. How many criminals go to a gun shop, fill out the paper work to buy a gun? Background checks do not stop evil people with evil intentions from acquiring the means to do harm.
Assault weapon bans: The Navy Yard shooter used a common pump action shotgun to kill 12 people. The shooter at Sandy Hook could have created the same mayhem with a shotgun and two pistols.
Background checks to buy ammo: Just drive across state lines and buy all you want.
Magazine limit of seven rounds: This one is a real joke. After passing the bill, they realized seven-round magazines don’t exist for many guns so they modified the law allowing ten-round magazines but you’re on the honor system to only load seven. The courts have already thrown this provision out.
I urge all voters who see the SAFE Act as unconstitutional to do two things, first make a donation to the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association to fight this law in the courts. Secondly, remember who voted for this bill at election time and send them packing.
Gregory Kleen
Saugerties
Down the drain
I read with interest a proposal by village Trustee Don Hackett, a Republican committeeman, to merge the Village Water District with the Town Water District, thus creating one district. According to Hackett the combined districts will save Saugerties taxpayers money. I don’t know about you but my town tax bill increased 9.8 percent from last year, and a substantial raise the year before that. Was that a result of combined services? Was buying new smart water meters a prudent move when we didn’t need them other than because “we got a grant for half.” Where are all the conservative and prudent politicians out there who agree that it is utterly foolish to buy something you don’t need, only to have the supplier walk off the job and leave us with these useless devices whose only claim to fame is that “the meter reader doesn’t need to leave his vehicle to read the meter.”
It is ironic that only the Glasco Water District was targeted for the water meters. Hackett wants to push even more on Saugerties town residents with a twilight zone plan he’s been pushing for years, but just couldn’t get it through. Now he has the backing of his good friend and newly elected Democratic Legislator Chris Allen, who has promised to by Hackett a new fire truck. The taxpayers of this town can’t handle any more with schools, hospitals and a failed economic plan. We will be sucked down the polluted drain.
Robert Aiello
Saugerties
Join the family! 
