An Open Letter to Joe the Plumber

Subject: An Open Letter to Joe the Plumber
From: Naomi Mac Millan
Date: 28 Sep 2015

Dear "Joe",

You recently published an open letter to the families of the Isla Vista shootings, stating that their murdered children didn't trump your constitutional right to bare arms.

Does your constitutional right trump someone else's right to simply go about their business and live? Because that's what these victims were doing. They weren't provoking anyone; they weren't threatening anyone, they weren't carrying out any criminal acts that would put lives at risk.

They were shopping at a deli and going into a sorority house. This was not an act of self-defense or protection of property. This was cold-blooded murder, and three of those murders were carried out with your constitutional bullshit.

You want to shoot at deer and empty beer cans go right ahead; no one is trying to take your big boy toys away from you. You want to keep a handgun in your home to scare away the Boogey Man, go ahead; no one is trying to take that away from you either. What they are trying to do is put an end to the unnecessary and easily preventable gun violence that has plagued this nation for decades.

Your rights will not be jeopardized with universal background checks. Your rights will not be jeopardized by restricting the types of firearms you are permitted to own. There is absolutely no reason for anyone in this country to have an assault rifle in their possession. If all you're concerned about is protecting your home, a Glock should take care of that for you. If you can't scare or stop someone with that, you probably shouldn't be handling a weapon period.

You said "...Don't be fooled -- I care about your family and mine. The future of our very liberty lies in the balance of this fight..."

Perhaps you are fooling yourself. It's not family you care about; it's your ego. The thought of not being able to hold that power in your hands scares the shit out of you. But you know what scares the shit out of me? People like you, who distort the meaning of what liberty is. People like you who think the idea of owning a gun is more important than life itself.

I hope for your sake and your family's sake, you never find yourself in the shoes of these parents who have lost their children to violence, but if you do, you can rest assured that you had a hand in it.

Sincerely,
Naomi Mac Millan

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