Good day, In a Herald Palladium article published October 22nd, 2009, regarding the South Haven City Council decision to lift the gun ban in parks, you made the following statement: "I firmly believe the city should have the right to say some areas are off limits for guns," Appleyard said. "They can't be in schools and they shouldn't be on the playgrounds. I think there should be some places off limits, just to keep community children and families safe." I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to ask this question of you: Do you honestly and truly believe that a violent criminal, who 90% of the time own their firearms illegally anyways, is going to listen to a law that says they aren't allowed to have it? Of course they won't. There is a valuable string of well thought out logic behind the Second Amendment, which, as much as certain politcal figures may try to argue, is written very clearly and concisely. It is because 'Gun Free Zones' are 'Criminal Empowerment Zones'. By the logic expressed in this statement, it seems that you would also be in favor of regulating or banning freedom of speech, assembly, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in certain areas within South Haven as well. I certainly hope for your own sake and the sake of citizens everywhere that you take serious consideration to the common sense offered in this letter. Here is some food for thought: Gun control has historically lead to the mass extermination of millions of people by their own government. In fact, in the last 100 years, more than 56 million defenseless people have been rounded up and exterminated by their own governments. That's more people than who died in combat during WWI and WWII combined. These 56 million people were defenseless and exterminated because they lost their right to keep and bear firearms. Look at what history tells us:
