John Roberts on Gun Rights

LETTER to US SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERT ON GIVING THE CITIZEN A RIGHT TO CARRY ARMS

November 4, 2021

The Honorable John Roberts, Chief Justice

United States Supreme Court

Dear Chief Justice Roberts:

I am aware that the Supreme Court will soon entertain the arguments on 2nd amendment restrictions, I believe as are in place in New York.  I am further aware that your decisions do not fall consistently for conservative/Libertarian interests. I plead with you to uphold the rights of individual citizens to keep and carry arms, other than the usual restrictions, like felons, courthouses, taverns, mental institutions, airlines and private property where the owner prohibits guns. Schools?  Fuzzy; certainly teachers and guards ought to be able to carry them.  Those restrictions are seen as reasonable by most people I suspect.

I do not study gun legislation or issues.  I don’t like guns; they are not a hobby. I am a member of no gun rights organization. I am aware that when suicides (which are legal in many states) are removed from the statistics, gun deaths number less than 20,000 annually, much less than automobile deaths.  What does not appear in the statistics I see is the number of legitimate gun deaths such as police shootings, home invasion shootings.  I do not speculate on statistics revised to consider these.

There is no legislation that will prevent bad guys from having guns.  None.  All restrictive legislation does is prevent innocent people from defending themselves. If the gun toter is already a felon, heck what does it matter that the additional charge is “felon in possession of a handgun.”  Look at the inner-cities.  If the death statistics further removed gang-related deaths, I suspect the numbers would be smaller.  Yet the cities refuse to aggressively seek out felon  gun-toters and prosecute them fiercely.    Further, we know from studies that now cops are more reluctant to shoot a black criminal than a white for fear of retaliation from spineless, apologetic  city officials. I am white.  

Guns terrify me, actually.  I own three (properly licensed in New York State).  I used to live in Spokane, Washington.  Home invasions, chiefly because of drugs, were common.  I never experienced that but I would not hesitate, without remorse, to fatally injure someone who was breaking into my house.  In Saint James, New York, where I live, I guess I am paranoid.  We live in a very quiet neighborhood but if we leave the sliding glass door open in the evening, I have a handgun on my coffee table.  No one has broken in and no one has been shot.  Great, no?  I have a cop friend I once asked (my license is called a “premise license”), if I witnessed a mugging or a rape in our cul d sac, took my gun and ran outside to break it up am I then likely to receive a felony charge.  He said I would.  I would take that to a jury but please tell me you see how awful that is. 

The police are not everywhere and with the “defund the police” movement there are likely to be fewer of them.  I like the saying, “when you have 8 seconds, it will take the police 8 minutes.” That means I alone am responsible for the defense of my wife and me.   I legally carried a handgun in my glove box for 10 years in Washington.  Actually, no I never shot anyone.  However, I witnessed an attempted car-jacking in Spokane, pulled out my gun and waved it at four thugs who were about to forcibly remove an old man from his car.  They took off.  No one got shot (though I would have been willing to had the situation become more serious).  So, no one was hurt, including the old man. I drove off.  Nice to have a gun, no?  I comply with the law in New York State but I deeply resent it and you are aware of a recent challenge to a New York City law that was rendered moot because the city in all its maliciousness, reversed the law before the Justices could hear the challenge.  I.e. the city knew damn well it was unconstitutional. There is no question that beyond “Heller” you must allow people to carry guns outside of their house. My wife and I have an adorable old house in Washburn, ME.  Maine is a no-license state (yet there are few gun deaths).  I carry a pistol up there with me.  I do have it unloaded but CT, MA could arrest me for having the gun in my possession.  That makes no sense.  Laws should not vary between states.

I am not a violent man but I have a serious live-wish for me and my wife. I am 165 pounds and my only strategy is “flight.”  I cannot fight my way out of a paper bag.  If a 200 pound evil-doer attempts to rob or assault me, the ONLY tool that gives me a chance, is a gun.  Not my fists and there is no credible argument made that I should be a victim of this idiot.  If people carry publicly is there  room for unintentional or accidental shootings?  Could this same thug over-power me, take my gun and shoot me or others?  Yes. But that is the chance I and society must take in order to allow me to try to preserve my right to life.  I had two sons. In their younger years I disarmed my gun to avoid accidental shooting. My belief was that the danger of my child shooting himself or another was greater than the chance I might need to fend off an intruder.  When the kids were old enough to know better I re-armed my pistol.  I believe there should be no laws requiring people to do what I did or mandate gun safes; that was my choice.

There is a delightful Federal Representative, I believe her name is Lauren Boebert, from Colorado who carries her gun to work.  She is loathed by the left, the same left that has armed protection from capital guards and the D.C. police.  If you don’t know her history, she owns the “Shooters restaurant” in a town in Colorado.  In that restaurant all staff are allowed to and encouraged to carry.  (I once wrote her saying I would buy a pistol for a staff member who could not afford one).  I believe that restaurant has never been robbed.  Not that I feel particularly endangered in restaurants but I know I would feel safe in that one

Because of the failure of the left to completely erode gun rights over the last 30 years, we are now a nation of, I believe, 300 million guns (not sure of that).  When one considers, outside of the gangs, how often these guns are put to evil use (including in open-carry states) the numbers are small. To disarm only some people makes no sense, creating an “unlevel” playing field.  All guns will never be confiscated - and you know that is the left-wing’s desire, no matter the “let’s protect the children” mantra.

Over the last few years we have witnessed police being stripped of any ability to protect life or property:  Milwaukee, Minneapolis; Chicago, Baltimore, Portland, OR and Philadelphia.  As our society becomes more divided, police will be less effective. Increasingly their response protocols will be dictated by government officials, lacking the overriding mandate to stop bad guys who want to hurt the innocent.  The “defund the  police” movement is designed to create less risk for evil-doers.  Mr. Chief Justice,  I believe I have a superior right to defend myself and my family, PLEASE don’t let the leftist cities take that away from me. We see prosecutors selectively prosecute the innocent.  Take the case in Saint Louis where the prosecutor was going to prosecute a husband and wife for standing outside their house with rifles as BLM protestors moved across their property.  To my delight the governor said if there were any convictions he was going to pardon them but do you see the risk to me? I believe no BLM member was prosecuted for trespassing.  I am not sure of that.

I acknowledge the clause “...a well-regulated militia…”  I don’t fully understand any rulings about the clause per se or if there have been.  Were I in your seat, I confess I would downplay that in favor of ordinary citizens being allowed to carry or concede the notion that in fact the ordinary citizen may have to join a militia if the incivility in this country marches along. 

Please allow me to carry my gun openly or concealed, please!

Sincerely, thank you very much for considering my plea. I don’t want to kill people; I want to improve my chances of surviving someone who would do my wife or me harm.

John M. Tyson