A Threatening Letter, and The Tragedy of Guns Continues

(This old business is sad business! Three mass shooting in the US in less than a month! I have a new sign in my front yard, but still no progress on gun regulation in Ohio or in Washington, though President Biden is planning to take some executive actions.

I found this draft of a post in my file and decided to run it at this point. My wife asked me not to publish it initially, she was worried by the threatening letter I had received. At this point, over a year and a half after the mass murder in my home town of Dayton, our Republican Governor’s modest package of gun controls has been rejected by our Republican controlled legislature.

But now, after the Atlanta, Bolder, and Texas shootings, I refuse to give up especially in light of the stupidity that composes so much of the opposition to any efforts to control these vile and excessive weapons! The weapon used in Bolder was a semi-automatic pistol with modifications. Here is the original draft –following the pictures–now published with some modifications.)

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(Top Left, one of three shooting sites in Atlanta area where 8 woman were killed by a 21 year old “strict” Christian man who said he had a sex addiction and was eliminating his temptation.. Middle, King Sooper grocery store where 10 were killed by a young man with known mental problems using a semi-automatic pistol that he had purchased just days before; he shot it out with police in store before being arrested. Right or Bottom, Texas cabinet factory where a 27 year old disgruntled worker killed 1 and wounded 5 two of which still in critical condition, one a responding police officer.)

The Original Post following the Dayton Murders

On Sept. 13, (2019) The Columbus Dispatch published a letter I submitted arguing for a tightening of Ohio gun laws.  The paper is not “The Disgrace”, far from it; it has a moderate Republican orientation and went so far as to endorse Hillary in ’16 and is calling for gun control now.  About five weeks after the mass shooting in Dayton took the lives of 9 innocent people in a 24 second hail of gunfire, I wrote the editor and was published.  It still shocks and angers me that in 24 seconds, 9 people could be killed and 17 injured.  My letter was most immediately prompted by a set of proposals tentatively put forward by our Governor.  In response to my letter, I received at home through the mail a rather peculiar and unfortunate response.  My letter and parts of the reply are printed below.  Its writer included a fake name and address, I discovered upon further research.

       Momentum is building for gun restrictions

Our Republican governor has conjured up the courage to defy the National Rifle        Association and the bulk of his party’s elected officials and will be putting forth a weak-kneed  proposal involving 17 actions — including some mental health                  up-grades — that is far better than nothing.  It is time to turn the cultural tide              against guns.

It is time to expand the limitations of the right to own a gun, a right that has already  been appropriately limited with our agreed-upon outlawing of automatic weapons.    We obviously need to go further.

Ohioans have the right to public safety.  Our children have the right to be safe in        school.  Manhood is not about owning a gun and certainly not about owning a            military-style weapon.

Better than the governor’s upcoming “red flag” proposal is the one currently being    sponsored by state Democrats and the courageous and clear-thinking Republican   state Sen. Peggy Lehner from the Dayton area.  It proposes a court hearing on the safety of a given individual’s possession of a gun and then allows that individual to respond in court if the weapons are removed.

Even in Washington, D.C., there is renewed pressure to, as the people of Dayton          shouted, “Do something!”

Readers should call or write their elected officials.  Put a sign in the yard.  There is an upcoming rally and march downtown on Wednesday with the Ohio Coalition  Against  Gun  Violence.  Act now!

Greg W.

A rather simple and straight-forward set of points.  All except for the manhood comment, which I was rather surprised The Dispatch printed.  I am familiar with letters to editor (LTE)  and I thought that comment would be removed in editing as too testy.

Here are some exerts from the response I received.  My wife has asked me not to make too much of this incident, not wanting to provoke further hostility.  I agree, and will provide for you just a sense of it.  It consisted of two pages, the first is described below.  It was extreme.  His caps and bolding.

HEY……WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT MANHOOD! My take upon  reading your LTE submittal to The Columbus DisGrace is YOU are undoubtedly a naive, sniveling , sentient cry-baby pussy who collapses at the slightest provocative action! You could be a #MeToo, or a tree-huggin enviroWacko ! BTW, I’m continually  amazed that The Columbus Disgrace doesn’t run out of confused Democrat schlubs  like you….

LISTEN UP YOU COWARDLY DUMB MOTHER-FUCKER! Red Flag Laws or Universal BackGround Checks maybe feel good non-remedies to the Gee I Pissed My Pants  Crowd but they are also utterly useless and ineffective deterrents ! Admit it ASSWIPE   You want “gun confiscation” and abolishment of 2^nd Amendment !  …Americans will NEVER….NEVER …EVER give up their guns! Guess who looses this argument ?….

KNOW THIS, YOU’RE A POOR EXCUSE FOR A MALE AND AN AMERICAN! Know also  that when the anarchy for which you unwittingly advocate for and promulgate  breaks out….it’s most probable that you won’t be able to scatter your old wrinkly ,      pansy ASS to the tall weeds ! Why’s that you axe ? Well….. could it be a dull machete  intervened ? Could be , since the God of Abraham knows where you live. The (3) Eyed Raven has now been assigned to keep a vigilant eye on you. There will be a        reckoning!  Praise the Lord ! Amen!

Note in the third paragraph near the end, he seems to threaten me with the “dull machete” reference.  Obviously he knows where I live; heck, I’m in the phone book.

It appears that my manhood comment bothered this guy.  Note the reference to it several times and all the disparaging phrases referencing to women in various ways.  Following the above, he had a sketch similar to below of “the three-eyed raven” he refers to as “CORVUS CORAX” which is the scientific name for the raven species.

Also on the first page and to the side was this statement (all bold):

“HEY BOZO! Hope this does not ‘bunch up’ your panties!  NO ONE has a right to public safety!  An expectation …..yes…but not a right!  Own/Bear arms is a RIGHT and I can prove it !!!!!”

Now, The Declaration of Independence does state, in paragraph two,  that there are “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  To me, that would imply public safety, but I will give him the point that that is not literally stated in The Constitution.

The first page of his letter ends with a reprinting of my letter to the editor in the bottom right corner.

The second page is a ‘wanted poster’.  In large letters it starts “WANTED” and then has the pictures of eight Democrats including Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Hillary, and Barack Obama.  “For TREASON & HIGH CRIMES“, it continues on the bottom, and then ends with a picture of a noose and a drawing of a firing squad.

(Well, there it is.  I can assure you that appropriate steps were taken. I spoke to the Columbus Police and the local FBI office. Both said that there is a lot of this that is around, and that not much would probably come of it. Both inspected the letter [I mailed a copy to the FBI on request] and indeed, nothing further has become of it, from the writer or the authorities.)

Please Keep Up Your Efforts to Control Guns through State and National Legislation!

But some ‘Persons,’ through their Mental Illness and arbitrary acts, endanger the Social Foundations of Meaningfulness. Other Persons, through their misguided Abstract Thinking, enable these attacks on A Secure and Meaningful Human Togetherness!