I recently recieved a letter from Bill Ritter, the Democrat candidate for governor. His letter was a response to one of the postcards I signed and mailed on behalf of the NRA. In the letter, Mr. Ritter address four questions posed on the postcard. 1. Do you support the Right-to-Carry law in our state that allows law-abiding citizens to obtain a permit and carry a concealed firearm for self-protection? Mr. Ritter answered, "Yes," but did not explain further. However, THAT WAS AN OUTRIGHT LIE! Bill Ritter, as Denver's District Attorney, testified before the state legislature about the evils of the right-to-carry bill in an undisguised attempt to make it fail. In addition, he prosecuted law-abiding gun owners -- even going so far as to prosecute police officers from other jurisdictions who carried concealed while off duty (which was and is legal). 2. Would you suport passage of a "Castle Doctrine" law authorizing citizens to defend themselves against violent criminals by force, if necessary? Mr. Ritter responded, "No, but I support Colorado's 'make my day' law and the two are similar." Once again, Mr. Ritter TOLD AN OUTRIGHT LIE! Bill Ritter testified at the state legislature to prevent the so-called "make my day" law from being passed. 3. Do you agree that our state SHOULD NOT enact a handgun licensing law? Mr. Ritter replied, "Yes." I'm noticing a pattern: BILL RITTER TOLD AN OUTRIGHT LIE AGAIN! As Denver's DA, Ritter made multiple attempts to enact gun registration schemes and ban the ownership of certain rifles and handguns, generally based upon cosmetic appearance. 4. Will you support passage of a state law banning government officials from seizing firearms from law-abiding citizens in a time of local, state or national emergency? Mr. Ritter replied, "Yes." I do not know Mr. Ritter's record on this issue, but I think given his TOTAL LACK OF TRUTHFULNESS in the previous three questions, and a history of gun-ban craziness, we can ascertain that he is most likely telling another lie. His letter goes on to say: "I still remember the day my father gave me and two of my older brothers our first rifle. We would hunt in the countryside. As a father, I made sure my own sons were safety-certified. Today, one of them is an accomplished deer hunter. I'm still a gun owner myself. When I served as Denver's District Attorney, I carried a handgun for protection. As District Attorney, I took seriously my role as a protector of the people. I supported meassures to give Denver local control and help keep guns out of the hands of thugs and violent street gangs." The letter goes on with more fluff, but I have several points of contention with the two paragraphs you just read. I'll address the second paragraph first, because it is the most important. Notice Mr. Ritter's focus was on keeping "guns out of the hands of thugs and violent street gangs." HIS FOCUS SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOCKING UP THE CRIMINALS! Why was his focus on an object incapable of making decisions? A gun cannot -- ever -- decide to harm another person. It is a simply a tool, and the decision as well as the act must be committed by a person. It is the person whom we need to lock up, not the gun. He has clearly fallen prey to the leftist mindset that banning guns will prevent crime, when we know that states who enact concealed carry laws for law-abiding citizens ALWAYS see a REDUCTION in crime. As a full-time police officer, I know it is virtually impossible for me to protect anyone. You must protect yourself until I arrive. And, know this: Once I arrive, I'm waiting outside for more cops, because I'm going home alive at the end of my shift. So, you'll have to keep protecting yourself. In my city, our average response time to priority 1 calls went over 13 minutes this year. Can you stay alive that long? That's why our Founding Fathers wrote the Second Amendment. In the first paragraph, Mr. Ritter stated that he made sure his sons were "safety certified." What does that mean? I don't think he even knows, because he's making it up. Does that mean they took a hunter safety class? NRA basic course? Some other mode of training? He doesn't say, because it never happened. "We would hunt in the countryside." I smell another lie. Someone who has really hunted before knows what kind of firearm they used and what they hunted. This is just some image drummed up by some low-ranking staffer to play to stereotypes the staffer has about hunters. It's very akin to Hillary Clinton claiming to have hunted ducks with a rifle, or John Kerry claiming to have hunted deer with shot pellets. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, SO THEY LIE ABOUT IT TO DISGUISE THEIR LEFTIST ANTI-GUN AGENDA! As an administrative note, I have cc'd this email to Ritter's campaign. I figured most of my gun-loving friends, fellow Republicans, and others receiving this email may not want to be contacted by them, so I included you all under the "blind carbon copy" line. If you want to contact Ritter's campaign directly, their email address is info@ritterforgovernor.com Give them what-for! Most of my Republican friends recall the tirade I recently went on, calling for our party to "take the moral high ground" and always tell the truth. I still stand by that, but THIS LETTER FROM RITTER IS NOTHING BUT TOTAL FALSEHOOD, designed to make gun owners feel that he is the better candidate. If you are dumb enough to fall prey, you must be a Democrat anyway. Vote Beauprez. I know he's not our greatest friend, but he's the best thing we've got right now. JOHN P. McFARLAND NRA Life Member NRA Certified Instructor (Pistol, Rifle, Reloading) NRA Range Safety Officer Pike's Peak Firearms Coalition PAC Steering Committee Member Republican House District 17D Division Leader "The Constitution shall never be construed...to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." -Samuel Adams, 1786 "LOCH SLOY!!!" -MacFarlane clan battle cry