Hand Gun Control
Dear Editor: Look. I’m a lifelong hunter who owns three shotguns and a .270 rifle. I am also an “outdoor” writer who gains part of his income from writing about hunting. I will never surrender my guns nor register them – they’ll have to take them “from my cold, dead hands” as the NRA slogan goes. But that’s as far as I go with NRA policy. They lost me way back in the 1980’s when they supported armor-piercing ammo.
I would like to see hunters do something about the proliferation of handguns in the war-torn United States. Hunters are under fire these days because (1) we own guns and (2) from the ever-growing PETA population, many of whom believe animals can talk. Since we hunters are becoming a rare and shrinking minority, losing political clout, I’d like to see us make an offer to the U.S. public it cannot refuse.
How about this? No more manufacturing in or importing of handguns into the U.S. but wait! everyone gets to keep what they already have.
What’s wrong with that? Too simplistic?
They can be bought, sold, lost, found, auctioned, repaired, sold at gun shows and sporting goods stores, traded, melted down, given away, hoarded, whatever. As you read this, gun sales in the U.S. are booming in the aftermath of the Roseburg shootings – this always happens after a mass murder. Consider how sales would boom if there were no more new hand guns to be had. They would become instant antiques. Consider how just the hint of this ban would make sales go viral. Consider how the value of each handgun would increase astronomically. It wouldn’t surprise me if a “Saturday night special” soon fetched thousands of dollars. Such a program would soon take guns out of the hands of desperate, irresponsible and mentally ill people. Our handgun(s) would soon be worth a small fortune! Imagine that. We’d harness the capitalistic free market – it would be simple supply and demand actually doing something about a serious problem.
Such a ban would not affect my hunting one iota. I once owned a .357 revolver but it was stolen and I never felt the need to replace it. If such a ban was imposed, I would probably invest in as many handguns as I could afford. It would be much more lucrative and safer than playing the stock market. I think I’d like to own a hand gun again. Target shooting is fun.
Hillary Clinton recently appealed to hunters to form a new organization to replace the NRA and pass some “common sense” gun control regulations. I’m all for it.
I would like to hear from Sitka hunters in this forum about my hand gun proposal. Can you support it? We could do the country a big favor and then just leave us alone and let us hunt.
Ron Rau, Sitka
P.S. Let’s get rid of those nasty assault rifles too.
Monastery Street Paving
Dear Editor: I’m writing this letter in regards to the work being done on Monastery Street.
We did not mind the road construction paving Monastery Street. But what I don’t understand is why the road construction crew didn’t take notice that Monastery Street isn’t a very wide street. They’re not only paving Monastery Street, but they’re also adding a wide sidewalk!
And why didn’t the road construction stick survey notices on all of Monastery Street resident doors. We didn’t get a chance to voice our opinions.
In the past Sitka people didn’t mind stepping out of the way when a car was passing by. I’ve never heard anyone complaining about that.
And we weren’t asked if we wanted Monastery Street to be a one-way street. It sucks!
There’s hardly any traffic on Hollywood Way and Monastery Street to be concerned with sidewalks. I’ve been on Hollywood way and people still walk on the street.
I hear the road construction company is planning on putting a roundabout near Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School. I don’t understand why they think that’s what everyone wants. Hardly anyone likes the roundabout on Lake Street.
It’s a shame to waste all that money on sidewalks and roundabouts no one likes.
Shirley Howard, Sitka
PFD Voter Initiative
Dear Editor: We live in the digital age. With a few clicks of the mouse or finger taps on a smartphone we have access to a wealth of information that was unimaginable just a few years ago. An entire generation has grown up with the Internet, and it seems like there is an app for everything. You may even be reading this on your smartphone right now.
But there is one aspect of our lives that has not embraced the digital transition. And it relates to the most important aspect of our democracy: voting. For some reason, we Alaskans cannot register to vote without printing out a piece of paper and mailing it to the State Division of Elections. It is hard to believe we are still dealing with such an anachronism, especially when we have been able to apply for our annual Permanent Fund Dividend online, through a secure platform, for a decade (something over 83 percent of Alaskans now do).
Fortunately, we can change this.
The State of Alaska collects all the information it needs to register you to vote when you file for your PFD. However, over 70,000 adult Alaskans currently collect the PFD without also being registered to vote. Forcing Alaskans to file multiple forms with the exact same information is inefficient and unnecessary.
Here is where you come in.
Until January 2016, the start of the next state legislative session, you can sign the PFD Voter Initiative to put this question on the ballot in August 2016. This initiative, if implemented, would allow prospective voters to create or update their voter registration using the information provided while filing for their PFD. This initiative will consolidate duplicative state functions and improve access to the polls for all Alaskans.
This initiative will not change any of the existing systems for registering to vote (you can still apply by paper if you desire), and it will not force people to vote if they do not want to. You can opt out of the process altogether if you want. The Pick.Click.Give program, which allows Alaskans to donate a portion of their PFD to the charitable causes they care about, has already partnered with the PFD program with resounding success. It is time to replicate this success with voter registration.
We young Alaskans think this is a no brainer. We already shop, read, watch TV, socialize, and even pay our bills online. It seems like common sense that we should be able to participate in our government with similar ease and efficiency. We are passionate about our state and are working hard to make it a better place. We recognize that the benefit of getting our PFD check comes with the responsibility of holding our elected officials accountable through civic participation. The PFD Voter Initiative can help turn this idea into a reality.
In these times of fiscal belt-tightening, we welcome ideas that make government more efficient over the long-term and cut down on unnecessary bureaucracy. We urge you to sign the PFD Voter Initiative, so that we all can thrive in a more engaged state. If you are interested in learning more or getting involved, please visit www.pfdvoter.com.
Penny Gage, Sitka, Katherine Jernstrom, Erin Harrington, Eric Van Oss, Kennis Brady, Kim Hays, Ian Laing, Andrew Cutting, Gretchen Fauske, John-Henry Heckendorn, Stephen Trimble, Aimee Chauvot, Shanna Zuspan, Kirk Rose, Harry Need, Austin Quinn-Davidson, Brad Dickerson, Emily Tyrrell, Agatha Erickson, Brendan Babb, Jason Brandeis, Evon Peter, Matt Rafferty, Corey Hester, Jenny Di Grappa, Dani Bickford and Loren Peterson, members of “Our Alaska,” an informal, nonpartisan coalition of rising-generation Alaskans, collaborating on vision and action for a better future for Alaska
‘Beautiful City,’ Continued
Dear Editor: I particularly enjoyed the letter to the editor from the folks in Gig Harbor, Washington, that was in the Oct. 7 Sentinel.
This last summer my husband and I had a delightful experience along our beautiful Sea Walk. As cruise ship people walked toward us I would say, ‘‘Welcome to Sitka.’’ Their faces lit up and nearly every visitor said, ‘‘By far, the favorite stop on our cruise is Sitka! Your scenery is well above the average we’ve seen. Your city is beautiful and clean and the people are so friendly.’’ How fun to read these same words from the people in Gig Harbor.
But our fun was also answering questions from our visitors and they were sincerely interested in our life in Sitka. Their last question was usually, ‘‘How long have you lived here?’’ If we could see someone trying to follow their map, we asked if we could help get them to where they were going, I hope we left smiles on their faces because they surely left smiles on ours. We are already looking forward to next summer.
Kathleen Everest, Sitka
