Discussion on guns must continue
A recent letter found fault with my vote on Resolution No. 295 opposing various proposed anti-gun owner legislation in New York state.
My vote indicated a desire to continue the discussion of handguns in New York state and not to restrict the rights of hunters to use appropriate weapons when hunting, shooting and harvesting large and small game.
This particular resolution contained 11 bills the New York State Senate is considering. The resolution the county representatives voted on was a blanket endorsement of defeating all such bills. There simply was not enough time to review the impact of all 11 bills through information gathering and informed debate. This resolution would have been better presented in an individual format so that each bill could have been examined.
Perhaps some were not willing to have an open and informed decision-making process. I believe that is exactly what county government should strive to accomplish.
I spoke with a number of right-to-bear-arms enthusiasts and read the District of Columbia v. Heller decision by which the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for private use in federal enclaves.
There are portions of the bills with which I agree and disagree.
For example, I don't think it is fair to impose $1 million liability insurance on gun dealers. However, I think possession of armor-piercing, frangible or devastator ammunition should be considered criminal possession of a weapon.
The letter stated an "unarmed citizenry is at the mercy of its government," which, to some, would suggest the possibility of armed conflict with the very government that affords the right to bear arms. Some would call that treason. I call it evidence that an informed discussion and debate are required.
Rep. Richard Murphy
Oneonta
Murphy represents District 4, the town of Oneonta, on the Otsego County Board of Representatives.
Homosexuality a dangerous lifestyle
I commend The Daily Star's editorial staff on its evenhandedness regarding homosexual marriage. My letter supporting the state senate's vote opposing gay marriage was printed Jan. 2, 16 days after I submitted it. The same day a far-lengthier religion column by Jim Atwell ran complaining about the vote!
The Star is at its best when I use it to start my woodstove. It is also excellent for fishwrapping.
In reference to the Quaker minister's column, you can tell a weak argument when it engages in name-calling. Those who favor traditional marriage are mindless, satanic Neanderthals, according to Atwell. Ironically, he ends his message with Jesus' words: Treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself. (We who disagree with him must not live in his neighborhood.)
Would he encourage his neighbor's children to go play in the freeway? His support of the homosexual lifestyle does that.
Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control again confirm how dangerous that lifestyle is. In 2006, 53 percent of the newly reported cases of HIV were gay. About 65 percent of newly diagnosed syphilis cases were gay. Gays are only a tiny portion of our population.
Atwell states that divine inspiration continues today and God is whispering support for homosexuals.
We can discern the Holy Spirit speaking to us versus our own corrupt thinking by comparing it with the Scriptures.
Homosexuality is repeatedly condemned in the Bible. Perhaps Atwell is hearing the ghost of NPR or the saints of the New York Times. It's not God speaking.
He degrades the words of our Judeo/Christian tradition's fathers, Peter, Paul and Moses, who were adamantly opposed to homosexuality. Instead, he says to look to Jesus' words. Apparently he didn't read where the Lord commented on marriage, that it is between a man and a woman.
Jerry Kabat
Oneonta
Socialism goes against biblical law
Rev. Thomas E. Pullyblank, a SUNY Oneonta history instructor and a minister of the United Methodist church, has unsurprisingly scolded me (and Professor Sears and William Eckardt _ I speak for only myself) for embracing conservative hypocrites and denouncing socialism (The Daily Star, Jan. 11).
Perhaps the reverend has been much influenced by the other Rev. Wright _ the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's liberation theology pastor for nigh 20 years.
Has Rev. Pullyblank drunk deeply of that socialist theology?
Rev. Pullyblank's superficial piece is marked by error, confusion and misrepresentation. First, he omitted the first two and last two words of, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Sloppy for a parson.
Second, that commandment, says he, is, "the primary commandment of Jesus Christ." Close but wrong, for "the first and great commandment" is to love the Lord God with all the heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:36-40). Shoddy indeed!
Third, Rev. Pullyblank misrepresents me as a conservative. I agree with much of conservatism's ethic, but my (imperfect) worldview _ metaphysics, epistemology and ethics _ is biblically (not conservatively) conditioned and controlled.
Fourth, if Rev. Pullyblank's beliefs were biblical, he would know that godly government would not subsidize the private sector, including corporate and small farms. Confusion reigns!
Socialism flouts biblical law, which love for God and neighbor fulfills. Socialism sytematically transgresses God's commandments against stealing and coveting (Exodus 20:15, 17), and blasphemy (Exodus 20:7; Proverbs 30:9). It engenders tyranny and hatred.
Questions: Why do we even now have poverty? Wasn't the War on Poverty, birthed by the person's socialist heroes, supposed to cure poverty?
Would Rev. Pullyblank explain why President Obama has yet to donate one cent to his impoverished brother George, who lives outside Nairobi, Kenya, in a 6-by-12-foot hut on less than $12 a year?
The Rev. Mitch Wright
Stamford
Wright is pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church in Oneonta.
