LETTERS: KINDER'S COMMENTS QUESTIONED

To the editor:

I could not let Peter Kinder's comments in the April 11 Missourian pass without comment. First of all, I find it curious that a possible contender for the attorney general's office would engage in a slippery slope on the issue of concealed weapons and compare it to prohibition, where he said, "It is an unhealthy thing for a republic such as ours to have laws on the books that are widely disobeyed."

When? I have not seen in my years of practice any great number of persons who have been charged for carrying a concealed weapon. More importantly, if that is to be the criterion for removing laws, then are we to legalize marijuana because so many disobey? Are we to get rid of speed laws, since so many ignore them? I always thought the reason for a law was not based on popularity, but on necessity.

I also must take issue with his assumption that the reason for Proposition B's defeat was the rewording of the ballot language by Bekki Cook. I am sorry, but that is simply ludicrous. I would expect if a scientific sample had been done of voters, most would have barely skimmed the language. Most had their minds made up before they went to vote, perhaps influenced by the nearly $4 million that was spent by the National Rifle Association to sway voters to vote yes, or by the opposition. All I can say is, if his contention is correct, then the next time there is a controversial issue that Kinder or anyone wishes to pass, instead of flooding the airwaves with millions of dollars in ads, win the secretary of state's job and have that person craft the ballot language so you will win.

MICHAEL H. MAGUIRE

Cape Girardeau