A form letter aimed at the liberal politician

[Ulmus]

I've seen many different letters written for us to copy for our Senators and Representaticves but have found that they would be quickly tossed or ignored by a liberal Sen or Rep without because of its style.

I have written one that is aimed at the liberal side and think it has a slightly better chance of being read.  If you like it and have a politician you want to send it to, feel free to use it.




Dear Senator or State Representative.

   I am writing to you in response to Representative Carolyn McCarthy's and Senator Frank Lautenberg's submitted gun control bills.

   It is important that you know that I find the tragedy that happened in Tucson to be horrific.  That a person would kill, wound, and terrorize others out of a warped political viewpoint is reprehensible and truly disgusting.

   What bothers me also is the fact that in their rush to react to these horrific acts, Rep. McCarthy and Senator Lautenberg are potentially putting more people at risk.  The newly proposed gun control bills they have offered as a way to lower the violence done to people will, instead, severely limit our ability to defend ourselves if needed.  Handguns and rifles have been sold with magazine capable of holding over ten rounds for many years now.  There are literally thousands of them in the hands of people from Florida to Washington.  Over 99% of these are used by law-abiding people of this country and have never been used to commit a crime, let alone take a life.  Of that 1% that is used by criminals, some were repelled by ordinary people defending themselves with their own firearm using these "high capacity" magazines.

   Another part of this bill would ban assault weapons.  Again, while this might sound good and reasonable, in reality, it hurts the average person instead.

   Take for example Mr. George Grier of Long Island, New York.  In September, he found himself confronted by and ever increasing number of people in his driveway. It started with four and then 20 others came running to terrorize Mr. Grier as well with threats of killing him, his wife, and his children.  There were not people on his side to help him out like those brave people in Tucson that rushed in to help Representative Gabrielle Giffords and those around her. All he had was a rifle.  An AK-47 rifle against a mob of up to 25 threatening people. 

   What I found disturbing, is that this mob didn't react like normal people do when seeing a person with a rifle.  They were not intimidated by this assault weapon at all.  It is reported that the mob became more hostile towards Mr. Grier.  He felt so threatened that, even though he already had his wife call the police, he shot four times into the ground to get the police there quicker.  He didn't shoot into the air, and he didn't try to take a life.  Even though his own life and the life of his family was threatened, his value of life is so high that he shot into the dirt to prevent anyone from being harmed.  Even then, once the shots were fired, these people did not leave or felt intimidated.  They continued to stand and terrorize this man and his family. 

   Mr. Grier felt the mob was composed of members of the highly feared MS-13 gang.  A gang that Nassau County Police Lt. Andrew Mulraine stated had 2000 members in that county alone and that the MS-13 gang is the most organized gang they deal with on a daily basis while having an almost military hierarchy to it.
   The point to this is that fact that while Representative Carolyn McCarthy and Senator Frank Lautenberg have good intentions with these bills and honestly want to help stop violence, they are actually creating more risk for the average person and causing us more harm.

   Military style rifles and magazines that can hold over ten rounds are out there and be bought any day of the week.  By banning these gun and magazines, all you are doing is giving the advantage to the person who would do us harm and limit our ability to defend ourselves.

   Just and there is that deranged individual who attacked Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed those innocent people around her,  There are people out there every day who would do us harm.  Just like Gabrielle on that fateful day,  we have no police close to us to protect us.  We are as open and available as she was.  We do not have a crowd of people around us to come to our aid like she did.  We are trying to live our lives and be happy.  Let us have the tools to protect that happiness.  Do not support these bills.  For while they might seem to do good, all you are doing is making harder for us.  The single mother that lives in the poor side of town who has to take the bus to work.  The homosexual who worries about their safety when going out.  The invalid and disabled that do not have the physical strength to defend themselves.  Help them help themselves.

   As I stated at the beginning;  What happened at Tucson was and will always be reprehensible and disgusting.  But instead of focusing on how to stop gun violence, lets figure out how to stop hatred and prejudice instead.

   President Obama said that we need to stop the anger and work together if we want to go forward.  So let's make that our legacy to the Tucson shooting.  Let's work together to overcome hate and prejudice.  Let's make this our answer.  Let us give Representative Gabrielle Giffords and all the other victims of violence the response they truly deserve and not another fear based gun law.  We can do it.

   Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

[Hazcat]

1st glance...too long.  Get it down to three or four paragraphs.

[Ulmus]

Yeah.  Your're right. Try it this way.

Dear Senator or State Representative.

   I am writing to you in response to Representative Carolyn McCarthy's and Senator Frank Lautenberg's submitted gun control bills.

   It is important that you know that I find the tragedy that happened in Tucson to be horrific.  That a person would kill, wound, and terrorize others out of a warped political viewpoint is reprehensible and truly disgusting.

   What bothers me also is the fact that in their rush to react to these horrific acts, Rep. McCarthy and Senator Lautenberg are potentially putting more people at risk.  The newly proposed gun control bills they have offered as a way to lower the violence done to people will, instead, severely limit our ability to defend ourselves if needed.  Handguns and rifles have been sold with magazine capable of holding over ten rounds for many years now.  There are literally thousands of them in the hands of people from Florida to Washington.  Over 99% of these are used by law-abiding people of this country and have never been used to commit a crime, let alone take a life.  Of that 1% that is used by criminals, some were repelled by ordinary people defending themselves with their own firearm using these "high capacity" magazines.

   Another part of this bill would ban assault weapons.  Again, while this might sound good and reasonable, in reality, it hurts the average person instead.Military style rifles and magazines that can hold over ten rounds are out there and be bought any day of the week.  By banning these gun and magazines, all you are doing is giving the advantage to the person who would do us harm and limit our ability to defend ourselves.

   Just and there is that deranged individual who attacked Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed those innocent people around her,  There are people out there every day who would do us harm.  Just like Gabrielle on that fateful day,  we have no police close to us to protect us.  We are as open and available as she was.  We do not have a crowd of people around us to come to our aid like she did.  We are trying to live our lives and be happy.  Let us have the tools to protect that happiness.  Do not support these bills.  For while they might seem to do good, all you are doing is making harder for us.  The single mother that lives in the poor side of town who has to take the bus to work.  The homosexual who worries about their safety when going out.  The invalid and disabled that do not have the physical strength to defend themselves.  Help them help themselves.

   As I stated at the beginning;  What happened at Tucson was and will always be reprehensible and disgusting.  But instead of focusing on how to stop gun violence, lets figure out how to stop hatred and prejudice instead.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
 
 


How's that?

[fightingquaker13]

Look, I've worked for Congress Kritters. Here's the deal. They get dozens of messages each day, if something controversial is pending, that can become hundreds. Everyone of them (mostly) are read. Here's the way it works. A very junior, but hopefuly bright, staffer like an intern gets stuck reading them. There are three categories. The first is mass mailings/petitions. These get counted but round filed. Then there are emails/phone calls. These are also counted and taken more seriously, some are responded to. Then there are actual letters with a stamp. These are counted and almost always responded to. The other sorting factor is whether they come from a constituent. If someone from the district (the magic number is the zip code) doesn't get a response in 72 hours someone is getting fired. The thing is though, your missive, no matter how well argued is getting read /skimmed by a very busy person with a lot of other letters on their desk. In the best of all possible worlds they don't have time to read and consider a manifesto. Keep it short, sweet and to the point. If it takes them more than about 45 seconds to get the gist you've wasted a stamp. Its no slam on their part, its just that a Rep represents about a half a million people and a Senator several million. They all get the same staff budget. Expect better service in ND than NY. If I don't know what Im reading and why in the first 5 lines, you're going to get a "Thank you for writing. The Congress person is considering your concerns" letter (those are preprinted BTW).  Its like Fullauto with his 2hr and 40 minute movie he wants us to watch. It may be the greates thing since "Apocolypse Now", but unless I know what its about don't expect me to watch the damn thing, or give your letter careful consideration. FWIW
FQ13

[Ulmus]

So what you're saying is that it should say after "dear Senator/Representative..." is

"I am writing to ask you not to support the gun control bills written by...."  instead of "Iam am writing in response to..."

How about editing it to this?


Dear Senator or State Representative.

   I am writing to you not support the gun control bills brought up by  to Representative Carolyn McCarthy and Senator Frank Lautenberg.

   It is important that you know that I find the tragedy that happened in Tucson to be horrific.  That a person would kill, wound, and terrorize others out of a warped political viewpoint is reprehensible and truly disgusting.

   Just and there is that deranged individual who attacked Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed those innocent people around her,  There are people out there every day who would do us harm.  Just like Gabrielle on that fateful day,  we have no police close to us to protect us.  We are as open and available as she was.  We do not have a crowd of people around us to come to our aid like she did.  We are trying to live our lives and be happy.  Let us have the tools to protect that happiness.  Do not support these bills.  For while they might seem to do good, all you are doing is making harder for us.  The single mother that lives in the poor side of town who has to take the bus to work.  The homosexual who worries about their safety when going out.  The invalid and disabled that do not have the physical strength to defend themselves.  Help them help themselves.

   As I stated at the beginning;  What happened at Tucson was and will always be reprehensible and disgusting.  But instead of focusing on how to stop gun violence, lets figure out how to stop hatred and prejudice instead.

  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

So what you're saying is that it should say after "dear Senator/Representative..." is

"I am writing to ask you not to support the gun control bills written by...."  instead of "Iam am writing in response to..."

How about editing it to this?


Dear Senator or State Representative.

   I am writing to you not support the gun control bills brought up by  to Representative Carolyn McCarthy and Senator Frank Lautenberg.

   It is important that you know that I find the tragedy that happened in Tucson to be horrific.  That a person would kill, wound, and terrorize others out of a warped political viewpoint is reprehensible and truly disgusting.

   Just and there is that deranged individual who attacked Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed those innocent people around her,  There are people out there every day who would do us harm.  Just like Gabrielle on that fateful day,  we have no police close to us to protect us.  We are as open and available as she was.  We do not have a crowd of people around us to come to our aid like she did.  We are trying to live our lives and be happy.  Let us have the tools to protect that happiness.  Do not support these bills.  For while they might seem to do good, all you are doing is making harder for us.  The single mother that lives in the poor side of town who has to take the bus to work.  The homosexual who worries about their safety when going out.  The invalid and disabled that do not have the physical strength to defend themselves.  Help them help themselves.

   As I stated at the beginning;  What happened at Tucson was and will always be reprehensible and disgusting. But instead of focusing on how to stop gun violence, lets figure out how to stop hatred and prejudice instead. But instead of focusing on guns, which are just tools, let us focus on how a troubled individual who raised red flags with the Army and a public college fell through the cracks rather than getting the help he so clealy needed. This tragedy speaks more to the weakness of our mental health care than it does to weakness on gun control.  [/b]   Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Much better and mostly, shorter. That letter will be read. The strike though and correction was just a thought. It was fine as written. Its just that when in doubt, play bait and switch. The best way to get a liberal to shut up about guns? Get them talking about how we need better health care.
FQ13

[Timothy]

Tweeked a bit...

Dear Senator or State Representative.

I am writing to ask that you don’t support the gun control bills brought up by Representative Carolyn McCarthy and Senator Frank Lautenberg.  It is important that you know that I find the tragedy that happened in Tucson to be horrific and find the person that would kill, wound and terrorize others out of a warped political viewpoint, reprehensible and truly disgusting.

Just as there is that deranged individual who attacked Representative Giffords, murdered six others and wounded a dozen more, there are people out there every day who would do average citizens harm as well.  Just like Gabrielle on that fateful day, we have no police close to us to protect us.  The police exist to clean up the mess afterward.  We are as open and available as she was and we do not have a crowd of people around us to come to our aid like she did. We are trying to live our lives, raise our children and live in safety.  Writing another law as a kneejerk reaction to this tragedy is not the answer.  The right of the populous to protect themselves is God given, let us keep the tools to do just that.

Please do not support these bills!  While they might seem appropriate, all they are doing is making things harder for the average citizen.  A single mother that lives in the poor side of town who has to take the bus to work, the homosexual who worries about their safety when going out, the disabled who lack the physical strength to defend themselves all deserve the tools to remain safe in their homes and their persons.

As I stated at the beginning; what happened in Tucson was and will always be reprehensible and disgusting. Instead of focusing on how to stop gun violence, lets figure out how to stop hatred and prejudice instead.  Instead of focusing on guns, which are just tools, let us focus on how a troubled individual who raised red flags with the Army and a public college fell through the cracks rather than getting the help he so clearly needed. This tragedy speaks more to the weakness of our mental health care than it does to weakness on gun control.

Thank you for your time.

[Ulmus]

Nice! 

Thanks for the help guys!  This is much better than the first one.  The better we can get our points across the better off we are.

[tombogan03884]

How about this.
In today's political climate, with the increased awareness of our Constitutional rights, you would be well advised to oppose all gun control intitiatives if you wish to be reelected.
Thank you Etc...

You aren't writing the "great American novel" . And it should be sent to all politicians, not just the Anti's.
Those ones that rode the TEA party into office need to be reminded that , the Conservatives can vote them out just as quick if they try to screw us.

[twyacht]

I suppose reminding the Reps/Sen. that tar and feathering was a preferred method of dealing with corrupt politicians that don't listen to their constituents, would be a "bad" thing?

I agree, catch their attention right off the bat, and keep it short.