South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Self-defense critical post 9/11

To the editor:

As a loyal reader, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was in the Sept. 25 “Call the Tune” column.

Although I have been active in party politics for many years, I have great respect for the system and the uniqueness of our representative republic.

For the benefit of the Call’s readers, please allow me to clarify some facts concerning the veto override of House Bill 349 — concealed carry.

Last week’s Call the Tune stated: “GOP ignores will of voters on concealed-carry issue” and referred to legislators having extremist views.

The truth of the matter is that the House GOP could not have overridden the governor’s veto without the help of 26 Democrats. It takes 109 votes to override a veto, yet in the House of Representatives there were 115 votes cast by our duly elected representatives. Not every House Republican voted to override.

In the Senate, we had Democratic senators vote to override. The question I have for the writer of last week’s Call the Tune is are all 115 representatives and 23 senators extreme? The bottom line is we all live in a representative republic and this is the way that form of government works.

Two final thoughts address concerns about House Bill 349. This is the most restrictive law passed in all the United States. We are the 45th state to pass such a law. This bill is a much different law than the proposal in 1999.

Both the concerns addressed by the editor and provisions to ensure that convicted felons and those mentally incompetent are excluded from obtaining a permit were rectified in the current law.

We live in a new world post-Sept. 11, 2001, a world where the right of self-defense is paramount.

John Judd

Lemay Township

Republican committeeman

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