and is Gun Control a Red Herring?

Dear Congresswoman DeGette,

Ray Ehrenstein writing you again. Salutations - with a word or three please:  

It seems to me that the re-focusing of citizens' attention on Gun Control is an effort (deliberate or not) to turn our eyes away from issues much more pertinent and important to the lives of us ordinary citizens.  Instead, I see a Red Herring.  

At the same time we are deluged with another illogical distraction;  an endless War on Drugs which has really only "re-distributed wealth" while taking countless lives around the world. All that has been accomplished in this "war" has been establishing a new wealthy Mafia class and lining the pockets of gun manufacturers. 

Our Nation has a huge national debt to address; folks need jobs; our immigration quarrel must be brought to a just conclusion.  Perhaps most importantly, the necessity of Health Care for All Americans, should by now be plainly and painfully obvious.

Cannot you, Diana DeGette (whom I respect) look away from television's current preoccupation with guns and fights with the NRA? The media will always seek after the sensational and will soon enough find another Hot Topic.

As the uncle of a paranoid/schizophrenic who was at least fortunate enough to be stricken while serving in the U.S. Army (and consequently has enough government money and free doctors to see him through a reasonable life)...I would rather see your attention directed towards other issues than gun control.  Help the mentally ill find treatment as best we can under the present system. 

However,  please do not believe that you and your members can stop mad men from outrageous acts - with further limits on clip sizes and background checks. The recent school shootings proves exactly how easy it is to murder one's mother; then with her Legally Purchased weapons, create havoc. If "Madmen are in the streets!" no amount of laws will dissuade them. 

ONLY Universal Health Care for all Americans can help take most of the mentally ill off America's streets - would you agree? As things stand now, if people do not become crazy at the "right moment", like my nephew, they are forced to wander the streets or will be kept "Hush, Hushed" in Mother's house, until they burst forth to kill.  

I believe addressing universal care for Americans will accomplish more than passing unenforceable laws on gun control.

Respectfully yours,

Ray Anderson Ehrenstein

Denver